Showdown for the Imperial Theater
by Meanjojo
Summary: Trying to follow the demands of the people who kidnapped her husband Yuta; Haruka employs the help of Shun Akiyama and Takayuki Yagami. They're then transported to the Imperial Capital in 1940's Taisho 29. If the Kouma weren't enough to worry about the local Yakuza, the Chinese Mafia, and the Korean Jopok are vying to control the Imperial Theater through any means they can.
1. Chapter 1

Haruka Sawamura looked over the note in her hand for the ten millionth time. The words practically etched into her mind.

_If you want Yuta back- _

_Bring Haruto and yourself to the Champion District in Kamurocho._

_You have 3 days to comply or you'll never get him back. You're free to bring anyone you like with you. As long as they're not the cops. Though I doubt you could get their help, __Daughter of the Dragon__. We'll know if you don't bring Haruto- so don't think of trying to pull the wool over our eyes. _

_Best regards._

_K. _

If it wasn't just the threatening note, Haruka would've been skeptical. No they added proof to their words as originally attached to the note was Yuta tied up and gagged. It was quite clear that he was knocked out by the looks of it as well, especially with all the wounds on his face. She wasn't stupid to not figure out that she was being targeted because of the man who raised her. They can't even leave his legacy alone long after he was reported dead. What's worse is that they didn't just want to target her, they targeted her loved ones to get to her.

As promised she brought Haruto and herself to Kamurocho. Specifically right now she and her son were in a new cafe that rested just at the beginning of Tenkaichi St. Nyu Cafe they call it. A weird pun meant to appeal to Japanese and English Speakers. Anyway the person she was waiting for simply popped into the cafe. He wore grey slacks, a black silk shirt, and maroon striped jacket. A gold watch rested on his wrist as he took his hand out of his pockets and waved over to Haruka.

"Sorry I'm late, Haruka-chan."

"It's not a problem, Akiyama-san."

Shun Akiyama was a longtime friend of both her and her adoptive father. A loan shark that was different from the rest. He runs a business called Sky Finance and does not charge interest nor collateral, but in return you must pass a test to borrow any funds from him. His posture was laid back as he waved to the cashier like they were buddies. Haruka wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the cafe was here because of Akiyama. He's called the Lifeline of Kamurocho for a reason.

"Yo, Haruto. Looking like a handsome devil I see."

Haruto simply nodded. Akiyama smiled and looked over to Haruka.

"So he still can't speak?"

"There's nothing wrong with him. He's able to write sentences completely and neatly. And his teacher says he learns the fastest out of the whole class."

"Does he get bullied for it? I don't think so, but the teacher notes that he stays away from the rest of the class anyway. It's almost funny really. He speaks well at home, but when he goes out he clams up."

"Let him take his time. Don't want to rush things."

"I'm worried that he will get bullied sooner or later."

Haruka felt a tug at her jacket and Haruto simply putting his arms in an X formation shaking his head. He then put his fist forward quickly mimicking a punching motion.

Haruka sighed while Akiyama laughed, "Gotta wonder where he's getting that spunk? I bet his old man is showing him how?"

"I'm at fault here as well. Just a while earlier I defended myself against a group of loan sharks claiming I owe them money."

"They happen to be wearing all black suits with blue sunglasses?"

Haruke nodded.

"Yeah, they tried to do the same thing to me. You know how it is."

"They are persistent I'll give them that."

"Just another day in Kamurocho. What brings you here? I doubt that this is a simple meeting. You sounded a bit hurried over the phone?"

Haruka handed him the scrap of paper and waited a few moments for him to read it.

"I take it you haven't gone to the police yet?" Akiyama didn't need her answer as he continued, "Strange isn't it? They're not asking for money or anything else? Just you and Haruto?"

"That's what worries me. Why kidnap Yuta and ask for both me and Haruto? I don't have anything else to indicate they wanted something else either."

"When did you get this?"

"Two days ago. I just got back here last night. I spent the last two days convincing my bosses at work to let me have a few days off."

Akiyama raised a brow, "I take it they didn't react to kindly to suddenly asking for time off."

Haruka gave an incensed smile, "Let's just say that I probably won't have a job when I get back."

He whistled in an amused tone, "I bet it's hard to find a job after you pulled your stunt a few years ago. You can always ask me if you-"

"Hana-chan." It was all she needed to say to Akiyama really. She's heard the tales from the woman and she didn't need any confirmation of their truth. She knew why Hana stuck around, but Haruka didn't exactly feel like working for a lazy boss. She liked Akiyama as a person, but she could see why he would make a bad boss.

"I bet she does have more than a few things to say about me, huh?" Akiyama just silently accepted her denial and chuckled, "So I assume you need me to tag along? Couldn't get someone like Saejima to help?"

"You do know how he is with technology? Plus I couldn't find him without contacting the Tojo."

The Tojo clan were pretty good with their promise to leave her alone, but that doesn't stop them from pestering her about taking up the mantle her adoptive father left. They tried to explain it as continuing his legacy for generations to come. However, she did not want any of that. It could be explained that the Tojo kidnapped her husband, but she knew their M.O and this wasn't it. She had a feeling that they knew Yuta had been kidnapped and are just waiting for the call from her.

Akiyama put a hand behind his head, "Can't contact Shinada either, he's gone off the grid. It it wasn't for the fact Tanimura was a cop, he just disappeared altogether. Probably sent to a different city and all that. Damn, guess I'm actually the only one who can help you out?"

"Will you?"

"I haven't said yes, but I'd probably look like an asshole not helping out a longtime friend. Though just in case things don't turn out the way we want to I know a guy who can help. He's a detective that started out a couple of years ago. Even solved a major crime back in 2018."

"Oh?"

"He owes me a favor, so you won't have to pay for his usual fees. I'll go see what's he's up to." Akiyama got up from his seat, "Why don't you show little Haruto around the city? I'll try to see if he can help us out. Mind if I take this?" He held up the ransom paper.

Haruka nodded.

"Let's meet up at Kyushu NO. 1 Star. You know the place near Pink St?" Akiyama simply parted with those words and left the Cafe with Haruto and Haruka to do as they please.

Haruka looked at Haruto and sighed, "Still the same as ever."

…..

Haruka took her son to the Yoshida Batting Center. It was kind of the only place she could think of that involved something Haruto likes. Aside from the arcade of course, but she wanted to waste some time, not let the hours fly by. She's knows how enraptured one can get in video games firsthand.

Haruto actually had more than a few sets of baseball cards that Yuta managed to get from time to time. Well it was usually from the gatcha machines. They gave out individual cards and Yuta usually gets sets of them when it came to be Haruto's birthday. Haruto didn't obviously show it, but he was truly worried about his father. Though it amazed her that he wasn't freaking out and crying. Then again what was she talking about? She acted very similar to Haruto when she was younger and when it came to serious topics.

"You can do it, Haruto!"

She cheered on her son as he went up to the plate. The settings were adjusted to accommodate his size and the bat was small enough for him to carry. The pitcher shown on the projector was even changed from an adult man to a child. Haruto was to aim for getting the most balls hit in a single go. Helps with the practice for when points are to be earned. There were 10 minutes on the clock. She was thinking of just doing five minutes, but Haruto picked it.

The first pitch came and Haruto missed it completely. He swung a little too early. The second one came and he swung too late. On the next pitch the ball hit the bat, but merely did a pop up and fell immediately to the ground. The batting game did not count it as hitting the ball though.

"Focus on the ball, Haruto. Don't take your eyes off of it." She wasn't sure what else to tell Haruto. She's just reiterating what Uncle Kaz used to tell himself when he was batting for her amusement. She was sure someone like Shinada could give better advice to him. Haruto simply gave a nod as 9 minutes ran on the clock.

His next hit struck true and flew up in the air for a few moments before making its way back to the ground. He missed the one that came after it, but managed to strike the one after that. Haruka was clapping all the way though, she had to show all the support she could.

"Sir, I have to ask you to leave."

Haruka sighed as she knew what was to come. She looked over to see a group of hoodlums harassing an employee of the batting center. Their multiple hooded jackets fit loose around their bodies and all of them had their hoods on. More than likely gangster wannabes as they tried to look intimidating as they can.

One of the smaller ones of the group grabbed the employee by his neck collar and made the employee bend down to meet his face, "I'm sorry? Did you say something to me, couldn't hear you from down here!"

"Yo-you have to leave. You're banned from the- the establishment from last-"

"Oh? Do you know who I am? The names, Taiga Kira, in English that would be Tiger Killer. I live up to my name you know?"

"I- I don't care who you are! You're not welcome to this establish-"

The employee was slapped by Taiga, "I'm sorry what? You had my hand in your face?"

The employee instinctively pushed the man back, causing the man to overdramatically stumble backwards, "Well look at you, think you can just push me and not expect to be hit back?"

The little man raised his fist.

"Enough!"

Haruka made sure to note that little Haruto was distracted by the game. She had about 6 minutes before the game was done.

"Let me wrap this up, babe, I'll get to you later."

"Yeah you can have fun with me in the meantime."

She counted four of them, each of them had four different colored hoodies. Taiga had a red one, the one heading for her had a blue one, and the other two had yellow and white.

The yellow one tried to place a hand on her shoulder, but she simply swiped the hand away and approached Taiga. She placed a hand on his shoulder before he could go in for another punch at the employee, "When an employee tells you to leave, then you leave."

"Who the hell do you think you are, bitch?! Do you know who I-"

The man had placed both hands on Haruka's shoulders and shook them, unfortunately for him Haruka brought her face closer in a way that no one would like. The headbutt caused him to stumble backwards a bit and hit the door holding his nose. Yellow and white hoodies went to check up on him. Haruka was then placed in a sloppy chokehold by the man in blue. His arm went over her mouth.

"Don't move or I'll-"

The man let out a scream as Haruka bit his arm as hard as she could. When his grip loosened on her head she flipped the man over her shoulder.

As the man in blue was getting up, Taiga recovered and looked at Haruka with fierce eyes, "Fuckin bitch! You're dead!"

_**Hoodlums**_

The men in yellow and white imitated a crane and a grasshopper pose and charged her. She grabbed the hand of the yellow man as he tried to do a sloppy punch and kneed him in the stomach. She wasn't quite prepared for a flying kick from the man in white and was sent flying towards the ground as a result. She landed near one of the benches that filled the batting center. She quickly got up just in time for the man in white to come back and try the same move on her again.

She quickly bent backwards and went as low as she could. It worked as she saw the man in white fly over her. She was able to work quickly enough as to straighten herself back up and dodge a punch coming from Taiga. The men had taken up to simply surrounding her; unfortunately, it would work to their disadvantage.

Haruka grabbed one of the benches and swung it around knocking away all of them. She breathed in a bit somewhat realizing that the bench was heavier than it looked. An aura of pure white subtly surrounded her as she felt the _heat_ of the battle rising. She once again swung the bench and hit the man in yellow who tried to close the distance.

She decided to take the offensive this time as she charged at the man in blue with the bench in tow. She let out a small shout as she hefted the bench and _jumped_ with it towards him. The bench rammed right into the man's lower body, what didn't help was Haruka landing on the seat part of it. The bench rammed a bit further and broke under Haruka from the abuse it took, the man in blue ended up being knocked out from the fight all together from that hit.

She got back up from the broken bench and took the brunt of a full force punch from the man in yellow. She stumble a bit, but couldn't recover as the man in yellow picked her up and threw her towards Taiga.

She rolled on the floor after her short flight time and was right next to the man. He proceeded to stomp on her face twice, showing no restraint. By the third time she managed to grab his foot and pulled his other leg up. He fell to the ground and she gladly returned the favor by punching him in the crotch. She didn't give him time to clutch his crotch as she quickly punched him in the face and got back up. As Taiga laid on the ground in agony she decided to jump on his stomach as hard as she could. He couldn't let out a scream as he had the wind and the consciousness knocked out of him.

She heard two yells and turned around, the yellow and white hooded men were inspired by her use of the bench that they both decided to carry the same bench, probably to try and use it more effectively than her. They were going longways, she was right by the wall, so the use of the bench was obvious. It was too late to get out of the way anyhow.

_**Feel the Heat!**_

She had a second of clarity, but she knew exactly what she had to do. She jumped up and extended her feet outward. She grabbed the back of the bench with her arms and held herself up. The sudden weight caused the two of them to drop the bench and gave her a prime opportunity to attack.

She swung her body towards the man in yellow first and one of her hands let go of the bench to keep her momentum going. The kicks landed true and she saw the man in yellow crumble. She let her other hand go and landed on the bench. She immediately placed her hands behind her back and scrunched her legs towards her body. She flung herself towards the man in white and the two of them landed on the ground with Haruka mounting his chest. She pulled the man's hoodie which pulled his head towards her. She violently pushed the man's head back towards the ground as hard as she could.

She raised a fist to punch the man in the face, but he let out a terrified scream. Haruka took it as a sign that he was going to surrender and got off of him. The subtle white aura around her dissipated and she wiped the sweat off her brow. She rubbed her nose to see that a bit of blood ran down, but had stopped.

"Here."

She was handed a cleaning wipe from the employee from earlier, "Thank you."

"No, thank you. I think they were planning to do something worse before you interfered."

"Sorry about your benches."

"It's fine. You there."

The man in white let out a small shriek as the employee approached him, "You think I can rely on you to pay for damages to the property here? You and your friends?"

The man in white nodded his head furiously and looked at Haruka. She simply gave him a glare causing him to nod a bit harder.

"I suggest grabbing a bat for when they wake up."

One of the batting cages opened up to reveal Haruto had just finished. The sign above the door revealed he finished the game with 40 balls hit. Haruka sighed as the hoodlums made her miss her son batting. She smiled nonetheless, "That's impressive, Haruto. 40 balls hit, that's more than I could ever hit."

She approached her son and gave him a congratulatory hug,

"We should head to Kyushu now. I'm sure Akiyama-san is there waiting."

The employee had seemingly returned now brandishing a bat, "Thank you and please come again."

Haruka waved off to the employee as she and Haruto made their way to Kyushu NO. 1 Star.

….

Haruka and Haruto entered the small ramen restaurant to see Akiyama chatting with a man with a white undershirt, a black jacket, tight jeans, with an unconnected belt. The messy hair atop his head seemed to indicate that he doesn't usually take care of it much and let if flow around naturally.

Akiyama stopped talking to the man and motioned for him to get up with him as the two made their way to the two of them, "Thought you would get here first, Haruka-chan. This is Yagami-san. He's going to help us in case things don't go the way we think."

"Nice to meet you.. I'm Yagami Takayuki." His posture seemed to indicate a similar laid-backness to Akiyama. Perhaps that's why he knows him? However, the name sounded a bit familiar. OH!

"Are you the same Yagami-san who solved the AD9 incident in 2018?"

Yagami smiled, "Nice to see I haven't been forgotten, but now's not the time for that. We gotta head towards the Champion District correct?"

Haruka nodded

The four of them immediately headed out towards the Champion District, Yagami took the lead as he talked, "Alright, I've been to a few hostage negotiations myself. The main thing you want to make sure to do is show no fear and don't try to bargain with them. Just try to do what you can.. Well it usually ends with me beating up the kidnappers, but we'll see about this time."

"So how'd you meet Akiyama-san?"

"I was paid by a girl named Hana-chan to find him. I've seen Sky Finance in my walks around the city, but never been to it before. It sure would've helped in my earlier years of being a detective with no money. Get this, it just turns out that he just forgot to tell Hana-chan that he was going to a place for her birthday."

"Seriously, Akiyama-san? You should really work on that?"

Akiyama chuckled, "I was pretty sure I left the note in a good place. Guess she mistook it for one of the messy papers around the office. What have you been up to Haruka-chan?"

"Nothing too much really, mostly been taking care of Haruto."

The three of them chatted for a bit before making it down to the Champion District, specifically the little alleyway that leads to a deadend. Usually the perfect spot for meetings and all that since usually one side doesn't have a way out.

"Haruto, when they show up get behind me." Haruka told her son as the four of them waited for the kidnappers to show up, hopefully with Yuta in tow.

They waited and waited, but no one was showing up. Not even a random homeless person bothered to walk in.

"Strange." Yagami put a hand to his ears, "Something's up. I don't hear the sounds of the city?"

"Me neither." Akiyama did the same thing.

Before either of them decided to dash out of the alleyway they all heard a small chink hit the ground. A small oval shaped device was on the ground… before it exploded into pure white.

…

..

.

Akiyama was the first to awaken in the alleyway with the sun beating down upon his face. He could've sworn the buildings around them were a bit smaller than usual. Yagami, Haruto, and Haruka were still knocked out. Akiyama couldn't wake them up as he got groans in response.

"This is no time for a nap."

Akiyama made his way out of the alleyway to simply get his legs working again. He regretted it immediately as the surroundings around him were completely unfamiliar. Sure there were people walking around on what appeared to be the latest smartphones, but something appeared different about them. Well that wasn't discounting the fact that the area around him was completely different from the Champion District.

The alleyway was between a Chinese Restaurant and a nondescript building. There were no obvious neon signs that should be strewn about everywhere and a lot of the signs seemed to tell that the area wasn't the Champion District. He still couldn't get what was up with the people around him though, they seemed 'old fashioned, but not really?'

His distraction culminated in him bumping into a random woman. She seemed to be the most 'normal' to him as she wore what appeared to be a bartender's outfit, "Sorry about that. Do you happen to know what day it is today?"

The woman checked her _extremely different_ phone, "It's XX X of Taisho 29."

Akiyama had to do a double take was she confused or something, "I'm sorry what?"

"Oh are you a foreigner? Herro, it is 1940 XX X and 10 in za mo-ning. Did I herpu?"

"Thank you." Akiyama somewhat said without raising his brows in confusion.

The woman nodded happily as she made her way past him.

"What the hell is going on?"

…..

**Welp that's a wrap from me. These are mostly just pre-mature chapters before the English release of the game in Spring of 2020. I'm surprised I was able to get this outta my head and onto the screen. **

**Most of the action will take place on foot as the Yakuza side of the story takes in and adds some of its juice to the Sakura Wars world. I guess I should really let the story explain itself huh? But it's mostly to avoid immediately having all the protagonists just fall in with the other protagonists of course. **

**But yeah, there's going to be 5 main leads in this story. 3 from Yakuza series world and 2 from well Steampowered Sakura Wars world. Obviously Haruka, Yagami, Akiyama for Yakuza.**

**And Seijuro for Sakura Wars side- also an OC to fill in the inexperienced **_**civilian**_** being roped into things gap. Seijuro obviously won't be going around picking fights a lot compared to the others. I hope people stick around for this strange story idea. **

**See ya next time**


	2. Chapter 2

Kamiyama Seijuro sighed as he finally realized that wanting to be a captain and _being_ a captain were two entirely different prospects. In stories it was usually depicted as something grand; someone to keep the others in line and follow by example. Someone who could be depended on to take care of any situation that came to hand. And anyone who were uncomfortable with the idea of him being the captain..well he just had to prove his worth.

The thing is that's exactly what he has to do. He has to prove his worth to _every_ single person in the New Flower Assault Troop. What didn't help was that the group seemed to be falling apart and apparently not getting along with each other. Well he got his wish to try and keep others in line, but he more than likely had a steep mountain to climb. He could feel the pressure from their gazes as they sized him up to see if he is someone worthy of following. He was all for it at first, but even he was starting to doubt himself. The only one who seemed to be supporting him at the moment was his longtime friend, Sakura Amimiya, who happened to be right next to him actually. She was a girl wearing a baby blue Kimono with a floral design to it indicated by the flowers that sprinkle about it, Her long flowing brown hair matched her pretty blue eyes that complimented the dress.

The two of them were tasked with going out and selling tickets. It wasn't the most exciting of jobs, but Sakura seemed to give it her all despite its simpleness. Maybe that's what he was missing? A drive to give it his all? Then again would it appear that he was just taking her shtick and not finding his own drive?

"Here you go, sir. 4 tickets for the next show."

"Thank you, Amimiya-san. I'll make sure to tell my friends."

Sakura had just sold some tickets to an old man. Seijuro had a feeling that he's probably been following the Imperial Theater's plays since they were established. He was probably there when the Imperial Theater was built, but that'd just be rudely insulting the man for being part of the elderly. Its good to respect ones elders, something which is just ingrained in Japanese society. For they take of you, you take care of them.

"How often do you sell tickets, Sakura-san?"

The woman kept her smile as she looked over to him. There were three rolls worth of tickets around her arms. The first two were to the next play and the third roll was for anyone who wanted to purchase the one after that in advance. Usually those were a bit more expensive and gave good seats in the theater, "It's honestly not that often. I know I used to do it a lot when I started out, but that just slowly phased out to me helping around the theater more. I see you doing this more often in your future, Seijuro-san."

Seijuro had to scratch the back of his head at that fact, "I'm looking forward to it."

A few more minutes passed as he and Sakura tried to sell as many tickets as they can. Strangely, it was a very slow day. There weren't many people walking by and the few that did pass by didn't spare a second glance. Seijuro sighed as the silence around them gave him more time to think about how he was going to get the trust and cooperativeness of the girls of the New Imperial Flower Troop.

"How do I do it?"

Sakura spared him a glance as he said his thoughts aloud, "Huh?"

"How am I going to get the trust of everyone else if they won't give me a chance? Sakura-san, do you know what I can do to get their trust? Or at least their attention as the new captain?"

"Just be yourself." Sakura simply smiled at Seijuro, "I trust you right now because you're just being yourself around me."

"Well this is obviously different, since we've known each other-"

"Is it really?" Sakura pouted and put her hands to her side, "How would you think I would feel if you started acting like a completely different person just to gain the trust of your own allies?"

"Ironic considering that's exactly your job."

"Sei-ju-ro-sa-n."

He gave a weak chuckled, "I'm just kidding. I guess you would say mean things about me and probably something worse."

Sakura shook her head, "I would completely distrust you. How can I trust someone who would change their personality on the fly just to suit my needs? I think they would not be true to themselves after all. How can I trust someone who can't trust themselves?"

Seijuro found himself nodding in agreement, "I guess that would make sense. I would probably get myself lost in my own deceit. If I'm not trustworthy to someone why should I be at all? Is that what you're saying?"

Sakura bobbed her head up and down and smiled. She was glad that they could reach and easy understanding. However the smile stopped as she began to realize there wasn't much foot traffic going around. They can't just change places either because this was where high foot traffic was located and the most likely spot to sell tickets. At least in her past experiences selling tickets. Plus they were assigned to stay in one spot because of the high foot traffic around, "Seijuro-san? There's not many people moving around here today? It should be the busiest time of the day for foot traffic."

"Maybe there's something else going on?"

sakura shook her head, 'We usually make sure the schedule is clear of any events before heading out here. If there was an event then we'd sell there."

"Maybe,we're just in a bad spot?"

"No. This is the route people usually go to either go home or head to lunch. Taking a detour would be inconvenient and waste too much time."

"Do you want me to see if there's something going on?"

"Would you do that, please?"

"Of course."

"Thanks Seijuro-san. Don't take too long."

"Will do."

Seijuro made haste down the street for at least three minutes before coming upon an interesting sight. Four men in black suits and shaved heads all simply stood still and crossed their arms. Anyone who came too close were either glared at or had their Smartrons knocked out of their hands and smashed under their feet. No one dared to protest them in fear of their lives. The reasoning was obvious, they were Yakuza. Members of the Shinkirsaku clan or rather the Kireihana family. He recognized the patches they wore as they turned around and gave him a faux greeting. Though his mind played back to when he first met the goons of the Kireihana family

_You can't hold onto this theater forever, Kanzaki. If its not us the Korean Jopak or even the Chinese Mafia will claim this land for themselves when you go under. It'll just be easier if you handed us the rights to this place and your employees and all that can keep working here. Think about how they would feel to know they were out of the job because you held false integrity._

_They can't do anything to us, Kamiyama-san. But we can't do anything to them, neither can the Mafia or the Jopak. Do not lash out on them when they inevitably try to provoke you. They would then gain the leverage they need to try and gain the theater. Whatever you do don't fall for their intimidation tactics._

"Ah, I've heard of you. You're the New Flower Assault Troop's new captain. What brings you over here today?"

It made his blood boil that people like this can do whatever they wanted and nothing could be done about it. However, he didn't show his anger. They would undoubtedly use it to their advantage if he showed it., "I was just wondering why there wasn't any foot traffic today. We're trying to sell tickets."

"Ah, I haven't seen anyone all day. Isn't that weird? This is usually the time of day when foot traffic is high. I wonder what's going on?"

His buddies snickered.

"Y-yeah?"

"What was that stutter for? Have something else on your mind?"

Seijuro mentally cursed himself as he was told they would try to find _any _moment of weakness, even if it was just a little they would find a way to exploit it. He needed to find a way to diffuse the situation. It didn't help that a crowd had started to form just a couple feet away from them. There were probably some who pulled out their Smartrons to start recording what was happening. It would more than likely work in anyone's favor if they got proof. Even the Yakuza knew that bystanders recordings was a very important thing to get.

"Did you hear me, Kamiyama? What was the stutter for, I hope you can tell me honestly. I'd like to know? Is something bothering you enough that you want to tell me? I don't like it when men don't own up to what they're feeling, you know?"

"Well you're standing in the way and I'm sure people are intimidated b-by your appearance."

"See was that so hard, Kamiyama?" He said it in a joyful tone, but his facial expression revealed his disappointment, "You know if anyone else said that shit to us, then they'd get their face caved in. But I like you Kamiyama. The name's Junpei, just Junpei. No need for honorifics. Oi introduce youselves boys!"

"Guro. Just Guro." The man with two scars along his face identified himself as Guro.

"Ken. You haven't earned the right to know my real name." The smallest of the group smirked mischievously.

"Kanta Gou." The man with an eye patch simply said. He was keeping an image of stoicism with the two words.

"Well? Introduce yourself? It's only polite to do the same?"

Seijuro's blood still boiled a bit, but it shifted to true discomfort as the Yakuza pretended to be friendly with him. Junpei even placed a shoulder on his arms, but squeezed as hard as he could without looking like he was doing so. They were still on camera after all.

"Kamiyama Seijuro." He said his name in defeat before they could try anything else.

"Wasn't so hard wasn't Kami- no Seijuro-san? I can call you Seijuro-san, right buddy?"

"I'm fine with it." He switched his strategy to try and make them bored.

Ken the smallest of the group suddenly grinned, "When are you going to introduce use to that kimono wearing hottie? It's not everyday you find yourself childhood friends with a performer in the Imperial Theater."

How did they figure out?!

"No-" Seijuro shut his mouth as he immediately regretted his mistake

"Oh, keeping her to yourself?" Junpei once again took the lead, "What type of friend are you? An ass that fine deserves to be shared you know?"

Seijuro kept his mouth shut, he can't screw up now. He can't screw up now! He can't screw up now!

"What's wrong?! Something got your tongue, Seijuro-san?"

Guro chuckled alongside Junpei, "Looks like he doesn't want his piece to be sloppy seconds."

Junpei grabbed his face and looked him in the eyes. "What are you just gonna take what we're saying? What type of man doesn't lash out when someone's shit talking his girl? Come on Seijuro-san! Hit me! Strike me! Do the worst thing you can possibly do to someone who's trying to be better than you! What if that possibility of taking your girl comes true?! Come on hit one of us to prove that you're a man who knows how to defend his territory! SEIJURO!"

Seijuro didn't want to admit iit, but his boiling point had been hit a long time ago. The mere thought of Sakura being used as a toy by anyone just made him furious! He clenched his fist and Junpei smiled as he knew what would happen next. He let go of the man to let him release his anger.

Seijuro brought his fist up and punched himself right in the stomach.

"The hell?"

Seijuro did it again with much more vigor and kicked himself in the knee for good measure. A strike to his own face and a chop to his own arm. He punched himself in the face one more time to cause his nose to bleed. The blood splattered over the ground, but he smiled.

"You're right. What type of man wouldn't lash out? It wouldn't be manly for him to hit his own friends now would it?"

"Clever bastard."

"Seijuro-san!"

"Sakura-san stay back!"

Sakura Amimiya had come just in time to see Seijuro's beat down of himself, "Why would you do that? You should've walked away when you had the chance." She gingerly placed a hand on his shoulder and felt his nose. It wasn't bleeding intensily, but if he hit ti a little harder who knows how much blood would be spilling?

"Sakura-san, I'm sorry. I was just trying to impress my new friends."

"Friends?! Seijuro-san you can't play along with them, they're no better than thieves. They'll do everything they can to-"

"Hey, bitch. Don't tell our friend what to do! He's a full grown man who can make his own decisions."

Sakura showed a hint of fury upon her face. She scowled at the men, "You know exactly what you're doing. You're trying to anger Seijuro-san so that he can strike you!" She held her arms out as though to be a shield to Seijuro.

"Sakura-san?"

"Who do you think you are? Male friends do this all the time. It's just simple screwing around!"

Sakura kept her gaze steady as she moved from side to side to prevent the group of men from coming any closer.

"We can do this all day."

"So can I."

Sakura jumped as she felt a hand touch her shoulder from behind. Seijuro had actually risen back up from his own beating and let out a cheesy smile that managed to make her heart flutter, "I'm sorry Sakura-san. Don't know what came over me. I'll try to not act like such an idiot next time." Seijuro felt his heart pounding and the boiling blood in him changed to a _heat_ of passion. A subtle aura of blue surrounded his figure.

Guro muttered underneath his breath, "That was lame, but so cool."

"Don't encourage him Guro" Junpei barked at him.

"Sorry, but I don't think I can be friends with people like you."

"Now just back to lame,"

Kanta spoke after a moment of silence, "Won't stop us from blocking the road anyway."

"There's nothing you can do about it neither. We got orders to block this road all day if we have to. Tell that bitch-"

"Geeze enough already. It's one thing that I hate Yakuza who have no regard for children's feelings. Too bad for you I also happen to hate Yakuza who don't know when they've lost. And geeze I can tell all the way from Kansai that you're trying to gain leverage by having a man lash out at you, talk about a low blow."

Sakura and Seijuro looked almost dumbfounded that someone would talk to the Yakuza like that. Least of all a civilian. Said civilian dressed like he just took some clothes off a homeless person. His loose hair and laid back tone didn't help in that matter. His belt wasn't even connected at all.

"Please, let us handle this!" Sakura started, "You're just a civilian you don't have the-"

"Shut it!" Junpei managed to silence the girl, "What's it to you? You look like you're pushing into your 40's. Think you can handle us younger folk old timer?"

"Well, I just came here after a little girl was crying about her doll being torn to shreds by a man with your ugly face. I think I found the right guy. Then I happen to see you trying to get that guy to hit you- probably to try and gain some kind of leverage that you can't afford to be the one to strike first. Am I wrong?"

"Do you know who we-"

"I could give less of a rats ass. What I know is that you tore apart a girl's doll because you were trying to do some intimidation tactic. Probably to cause someplace to go out of business correct? Judging from the confusion on your friend's face there, I assume I'm correct?"

Sakura and Seijuro looked around to see that Ken was the one looking confused.

All pretenses were off as Junpei sighed, "Excuses us one moment."

"Run!" That's the only thing Seijuro could say to the man as the four Yakuza started to walk towards him. It was out of his hands now unless he became a liability to the Theater.

"You got a lot of balls for a hobo!"

Seijuro and Sakura could only watch on as the man couldn't run.

Yagami wasn't entirely sure on what the couple's deal was, but he obviously couldn't stand the obvious bullying no longer. A quick survey of his immediate surroundings showed a light post, some small road cones placed where the Yakuza probably stood, an abandoned wagon that's had its wheels broken off, and a loosely fit manhole cover. The Yakuza approached closer and started to crack their knuckles. Kanta even managed to pull out a knuckleduster. Ken rudimentary switchblade. He breathed in as he prepared himself for a fight. He suddenly moved and imitated the form a crane. His crane stance if you will. The Yakuza just laughed at him.

"Seriously? We're fighting a homeless old dude pretending to know crane stance?" Junpei said . The reason why he said it was obvious. He immediately got into his own crane stance and showed Yagami that he was serious. The rest didn't have stances of their own however.

Yagami simply smiled, "Well show me what you have, grasshopper."

_**2nd Captain of the Kireihana Family**_

_**Junpei**_

Guro, Ken, Kanta, and Junpei all charged Yagami at once. Yagami obliged their request by running straight at them as well. Ken was first in line as he tried to stab Yagami to no avail, he saw right through it and ducked under it. Kanta approached with a rush trying to use the Knuckledusters, but Yagami was able to redirect the attack back towards Ken. He could not keep this moment going as Junpei managed to grab Yagami when he was trying to go for a punch. The man was in full control as he managed to get Yagami in a full nelson.

Guro managed to land two direct punches on Yagami's face and another to his stomach. As Guro went in for another punch Yagami swung both his legs upwards and landed a kick on the man's face before resting his knees squarely on his neck. Junpei saw to it to let Yagami go and let him drop to the ground before he could do any damage, but it didn't work out in his favor. Yagami scrunched up with his body to bring the scar faced man down with him. Yagami's back then hit the ground with his legs still interlocked with Guro's neck. He immediately thrust his body momentum up to cause a loud cracking sound and a scream to occur in the man's neck. One would assume he would've died with the loud cracking in his neck, but after Yagami's legs unwrapped around his neck the man began to roll around the ground in pain. Causing Kanta to try and get him back up.

Yagami deflected an attack immediately coming from Ken, but couldn't do the same with a follow up punch from the man. Yagami stumbled back a bit and took a knife stab straight to the arm, which he used to his advantage soon after. Yagami took the opportunity to grab his opponent's wrists, grab him, lift him up, and cause his spine to crash into the light fixture. Yagami did not let the man take a moment to recover as he kicked the man up into the air and followed that up by jumping and kicking him back down.

Junpei took the opportunity to blind slide Yagami once again by kicking him in the face and using his other leg to balance while he spin kicked him. He followed up by pouncing on Yagami with a full body tackle and wailing on him. It was a moment of pure joy for the man as he managed to land a solid 10 hits on Yagami's face as he tried to get the man off of him. Yagami's blood splattered over the street and onto the broken wooden cart nearby. Yagami seemingly had enough as he grabbed both of the man's wrist and headbutted him to get him off. His request was met with an enthusiastic headbutt back from the man and the two simply started to hit each other's heads.

It was simply just merciless blow after merciless blow until Yagami won in the end giving a final headbutt to finally get the man to yield and roll of Yagami to recover in pain. Yagami slowly got up from his position on the ground and noticed that the group were still recovering. From his attacks from earlier.

"I'll have to say, you guys ain't half bad." Yagami took out a cigarette and a ligher and began to smoke it. He put the lighter away and continued to smoke for a couple of seconds as the Yakuza began to get their bearings once again. A subtle blue aura had began to accumulate around both Yagami and a yellow one had began to form around Junpei, "But, I'm just getting started!" Yagami's still kept the cigarette in his mouth as he began to practice his footwork, "Come on that all you got?"

On the sidelines Sakura and Seijuro were honestly surprised the man was lasting so long after all those blows. It was a shame for Seijuro that he couldn't do anything to help, especially since the man came to _their _aid. Talk about being a defender of the capital if he can't help out someone who's defending him. However, Seijuro began to feel like something important was going to happen. It's like he could pinpoint the exact moment he should be lookin-

"Wait a second!"

"Seijuro-san?!"

Seijuro began to focus completely on Yagami's movements, specifically the momentum his legs. He ignored the voice of Sakura for just a moment to concentrate completely on him. Right about now!

Yagami's taunt worked as Ken once again charged him with his rudimentary knife. In response Yagami just smirked with the cigarette still in his mouth. As soon as the man got close her spat the cigarette out at the man and into his eye. This forced the man to let go of his knife and had it flung towards Yagami. In response Yagami had a reactionary response as he kicked the blade away from him. This caused it to lodge straight into the man's shoulder. The attacks from earlier, the cigarette in his eyes, and know the blade in him served to knock Ken out of the fight. Yagami noticeably grimaced at the fact he sent a blade straight into a man's shoulder. He noticeably looked apologetic.

"Sorry, might want to keep that In there for a bit. You'll probably lose more blood if you pull it out or something like that."

Seijuro finally snapped out of trance and looked up and down as if he was thinking, "Can this work?!" Seijuro envisioned himself in a completely blank space and suddenly thought of a Kouma and his Mecha. The monstrosity held a tight grip around the intending to crush it like a grape. The dual swords hung at the sides but a quick reflex would allow him to stab the Kouma by dropping one of the swords and kicking it with a boost from the legs. "No that won't work. It's death grip would probably tighten. Perhaps I a different scenario?"

Seijuro imagined himself in a much more safer scenario. He was with someone who didn't have a ranged attack and a flying Kouma was harrasing them. A quick jolt of thinking had him throw the sword up in the air and kick it directly at the Kouma at breakneck speeds. "I got it!"

"Got what?"

"I don't know. I was just observing that guy's movements and I had a sudden inspiration... like a _revelation._"

"What did you think about?"

"How we can deal with distant enemies if we have no ranged options available to us."

Sakura simply looked confused at his statement.

Yagami still winced, but he knew the man wasn't dead. His chest moving up and down seemed to have indicated so. He was not prepared for the now recovered Guro to come back and go for a punch. It connected and he stumbled into the broken cart. He dodged a punch from the man soon after which caused his fist to hit the cart and actually cause it to crack a little. Guro didn't even wince as he recovered and managed to grab Yagami's arm and pull him back towards the cart. Guro actually slammed Yagami's face into the cart a second later and delivered a punch to the back of his head for good measure. A smile formed on his lips as Yagami slumped over and fell from the cart.

That smile was short lived as it turned out Yagami took only a quick moment to recover and hit the bottom part of Guro's knees. This caused a small knee-jerk reaction and Yagami took advantage of it by pulling the man down to his level and punching him in the face. Yagami didn't even let the man recover as he got up himself and pulled on his legs. Kanta and Junpei both tried to take advantage of back turned Yagami, but were instead met with Guro being flung at them from ground level to the air. Yagami wasn't even far behind as he jumped on the back of Guro who was pinning the two on the ground. This knocked the wind out of Kanta and Junpei, but completely knocked Guro out. Yagami backed off from them for a second to catch his breath, but Junpei was a bit faster than Kanta to push the unconscious man off of him.

Junpei approached Yagami, but stopped a couple of feet from him. He breathed in and once again went into a crane stance. He stopped doing the stance after a second and placed a hand behind his back. He used his other one to taunt Yagami and tell him to try and rush him. His plan was to let Yagami try to strike first and counter it. Yagami obliged and clashed his own fists together before he decided to grab the broken cart and _lift_ it up. Junpei didn't even have time to recover from his shock as Yagami brought it crashing upon his head. The cart broke in twain from the force and Junpei felt his head to check that he was alive and his head was bleeding. That didn't stop Yagami from quickly punching his chest in rapid succession before finally ending it with a kick in the stomach. Junpei backed away while clutching his stomach, but the pain and exhaustion from fighting caused him to drop over.

Yagami didn't wait a second longer after he saw Kanta finally beginning to recover. He ran up to the man getting up and kneed him in the face. Yagami stopped for a moment and dropped his arms. He casually walked over to Kanta holding his nose crouched low to the ground, "So? How much does a doll usually cost around these parts?"

Before the man could groan someone shouted, "Hey punk stop right there, don't move!"

Yagami looked behind him to see more men in suits making their way through the crowd of bystanders. He sighed and searched the man, but could only find the Smartron in his possession, "I'll be taking this. I'm sure someone would want to pay top dollar to get a Yakuza's phone. See ya." Yagami made a sprint towards the loose sewer cover and simply lifted it up to open it. He quickly entered the sewers and fled the scene.

"We should get out of here too, Sakura-san."

"Yeah!"

Seijuro and Sakura didn't waste anytime as they went back the way they come from. It was safe to say there wasn't going to be any foot traffic for a while.

...

**Like I said before these are just what you call pre-mature chapters. That and I'm going off of pre-release info without spoiling myself with the game that's already out. This chapter was mostly split between Yagami and Seijuro, but Yagami was just fighting. I'm thinking of 4-5 chapters **_before_** the English release of the game. I'm thinking next chapter debuts the OC (like I said before to fill in the inexperienced civilian bit), chap. 4 To focus on Akiyama and possibly Yagami, and Chap 5 to focus on Seijuro and Haruka. Though plans change all the time however- so yeah.**

**Have a nice day and see you next time. **


	3. Chapter 3

"You hear the Imperial Theater got a new boy? New captain and all that? You know they keep talking about how rare it is for males to pilot those mechs, but they seem to come out a dime a dozen."

A military enthusiast kept kept his head on the table, it was a day off for him today and he was at the bar that opened early and closed whenever it wanted to. It was a strange time for a bar to be open as early as 12pm, but the owner didn't care. She was technically retired anyway.

The owner was a tall woman with a fair skin complexion that matched most of the people in Japan. Her long brown hair was tied into a bun and she wore a small bow on her head to keep any stray hair at bay. Her face was the opposite of soft, but not too hard as though to give an intimidating aura wherever she went. Her eyes seemed to be a strange mixture of grey and blue; needless to say a rather uncommon style for a local. Her outfit consisted of a regular barman's outfit. A three piece black and white suit with soft green tie, black slacks, and black dress shoes.

Her hands were quick at work cleaning the bar and giving the military enthusiast another drink, "We live in a different time now, Ki-san. The governments are breeding soldiers and males who can pilot the Kobu or whatever they call them now are a rare commodity."

"Heh, must be nice. Just sit in a room and just have sex to your wildest content."

"I don't agree with the practice at all. I mean what do you think happens to the rejected children that can't use spirit power?"

"Don't be such a downer, Saejima-chan." Ki took another chug of his beer, "Anyway, when are you going to tell me your first name? I've given up on that free chance of getting an entire whiskey bottle."

"Sure you can't take a few more guesses? We can do this all year if we have to."

"Come on please?"

"Now where's the fun in that? The mysterious bartender Saejima revealing her name at the word 'please'."

"Does your new worker know?"

"My only worker, and no. Golder, get in over here!"

The military enthusiast chuckled, "You on a no honorifics bases with him or something?"

"Golder prefers no honorifics when talking about him, but he's got to keep up on his Japanese; he'll still have to use them on me."

"Yes, Saejima-sensei?"

The young man that appeared from the back had a bit of a slim figure that obviously used to be a more bulky one. He was still bulky In a sense, but not as big as foreigners that went out to chop down trees. The young man had a cleanly shaved head, which is blonde, and a pair of brownish-red eyes that appeared somewhat gentle. If those didn't give away that he is a foreigner, the fact that he stands a mighty 6 feet tall surely sealed the deal. He wore a similar barman's outfit to Saejima, but it was a bit more navy blue. His tie was instead a bowtie of the blue variety.

"Good job. You're still keen on your practicing and learning."

"I try my best, Saejima-sensei."

"Ah, so you're the rumored Golder-san?" Ki had a smile on his face, "Nice to meet you for on-"

"You met him a couple times, Ki-san. You were just drunk most of the time."

Ki chuckled nervously, "I suppose I might have a problem. So where you from, Golder-san? Judging from your height, I assume somewhere from America? I heard you guys get big over there. Especially the ladies.."

Golder took a few moments to think of what he was going to say, "I come from Ohio.. um.. not _Ohaiyo._Ohio is a state, not the greeting you see..."

"Calm down, Golder."

He corrected himself at his boss' suggestion, "My mother is half Japanese, but she never learned the language. I've only been learning for a year or so, but never had a chance to speak in Japanese. I can read it well enough, but speaking is another matter."

"Your Japanese is impressive actually. Puts some native speakers to shame."

"Really?"

"I heard people who speak English have the same thing as well. I take it it would be better to speak in English than Japanese, no?"

"Are you fluent?"

"No, but getting the juicy details of new advancements in military technology is nice."

Saejima joined in the suddenly English conversation, "Golder. You speak Japanese. You too Ki-san."

"So, Saejima-chan can't speak English very well? That was a thicker accent than mine!"

"I'm sure you'll be done laughing when I charge you triple for your drinks."

Ki didn't even get a single fake laugh out before he downed his entire glass, "What would I laugh about? So, how'd you end up here, Golder-san?"

"I am a college dropout."

Ki swore he would've spit out his glass if he hadn't drank it all, "I uh... see. Don't know what to say about that, were you studying here and you decide to drop out?"

"No, no. I went to Ohio State University. I failed my classes. My father decided to send me abroad to make it on my own and see if I can truly take care of myself. Saejima-sensei is old acquaintance of his. Only supposed to bunk with her for a few weeks, but I ended up working for her. Said to pay rent every month."

Saejima pitched in, "He lives upstairs. The amount of rent he has to pay each month depends on how clean it is, and how clean the bar is after I leave and come back. He begged me to work for me."

"Did not."

"_I will work for you. I will do anything you want and you don't have to raise my pay for overtime. I'll do whatever you want!"_

She tried her best to mimic his slightly broken Japanese, it worked as the young man blushed. Ki could only laugh.

"Sorry."

"No need to apologize. Sometimes you gotta know how far you're willing to go to stand on your own. That's why I hired you, Golder. Plus the extra set of hands is nice. Speaking of, I got some crates for you to deliver today. The Kireihana office, south of the Imperial Theater and take a right until you reach the end of the block."

Ki coughed a bit at the mention of Kireihana, "This payment for them to leave you alone?"

"Something like that..."

"I hate Yakuza. The scum of the Earth." Ki made his statement abundantly clear.

Saejima stayed silent on the matter and looked off to the side, "Crates are in the back, Golder. Stay away from any Chinese looking fellows staking out the place, also be careful of any Koreans looking around too. Get to the back door, knock two times and kick. Got it?"

The foreigner nodded and quickly set out to do what his boss wanted him to do.

….

It was a relatively 'short' trip for the foreigner. Short in a sense that he somewhat knew where he was going, but he at least made it to the back alleyway. The Kireihana office sign out of front side helped with him figuring out where it was located at in the back. He had no problems getting here and didn't see any Koreans or Chinese along the way.

He placed the crates on the ground and hesitantly placed his hand at the door. He took a moment to remember what he was supposed to do. He knocked twice and lightly kicked the door. It didn't take long for it to open and he got a good look at a man taller than him. Golder was considered tall here, but with this man in front of him he felt like a dwarf. The man had slicked back hair, a nice blue suit, a pair of sunglasses. Even though his eyes were behind the sunglasses he could feel the man stare into his soul. It didn't take a moment for the man to look down and have a small smirk appear on his face.

"Must be the kid Saejima-chan is babysitting. Why don't you come inside with those drinks?"

Golder shook his head, picked up the crates, and handed it to the man who graciously took it, "I have to get back to Saejima-sensei. Don't have time to sit around..." He's heard the stories- it goes from a quick sit down and suddenly you're knee deep in the Yakuza getting a tattoo to show loyalty.

"I was asking for your own sake, but if you insist. Also, foreigners should take care to hide their tattoos. It may mean nothing to you, but in Japan you could be barred from business just for having one."

Golder held a face that voiced his confusion as the man closed the door. Guess he couldn't hide the #32 on his neck very easily. At least to the keen eye. It was his jersey number for the hockey team back home. He got it in a stupid way actually. He was younger and very stupider so he thought getting a tattoo would get his teammates off of him for not having one. He shook his head at the memory. He needed to get back.

He headed out of the alley just to be stopped by some old looking homeless men.

"H-hey are you a foreigner?"

It was unsurprising that the Japanese could easily tell what he was. The homeless men stepped a bit closer to him, causing some alarms to go off in his head. They seem to be hesitant to approach, but ready to do something at a moments notice.

"A couple of Koreans told us that if we assault you and bring you to them we'll be rich!"

His heart sank at the words. What would anyone want to do with him? He looked at the other homeless men as one brandished a broken bottle and the rest put up a couple of sloppy fighting stances. Well he was no better as he placed his shoulders in front of him and scrunched forward. He mostly remembered what to do when on an ice rink, but being on the ground was completely different. As evident from him almost tripping forward.

"Excuse me, did you say some Koreans were lurking on our turf?"

Golder relaxed and looked behind the homeless men as they turned around. There were four men clearly beaten and bruised, but still looked fierce nonetheless. The leader of the men looked at the homeless man who said that.

"N-no!"

"You think Korean's lurking around our turf is a joke? Why don't you and your buddies come with us to our office? We'll be sure to take good care of you."

The homeless men put down their stances and the one with the broken bottle had his face smashed in by the stoic looking man. They looked scared shitless, but that wasn't his problem. They were ready to attack him and he honestly didn't feel bad for them. They complied as they followed three of the four men, the leader looked at Golder with a sharp glare.

"Why don't you get on out of here? Don't know what the Koreans want with you, but they'll likely encroach on us more if you stick around."

He did as he was told as he walked out of the alley, he gave a small glance of the scared men as they were led to the Kireihana office. He gulped a bit, but that didn't matter.

He made his way back to the bar, there were still hours to be worked.

….

**Mostly wanted to keep this one short, mostly just a short introduction anyway. 2 more chapters to go.**

**Also Akiyama's chapter should be somewhat immediately after this one is released, so yeah. **


	4. Chapter 4

Akiyama scratched his neck as he separated from Haruka and Haruto. The two would continue to explore the city by themselves. Yagami had separated from them earlier to investigate some things on his own as well. They agreed to meet at the nearby hotel where there may or may not be a hidden gambling den. Yagami noticed it and Akiyama sure as hell noticed it as well. There were two bodyguards guarding the doors and everything. Inconspicuous to the untrained eye, but that was a red flag for some illicit activities being done nearby. They were going to use that as leverage later for when they wanted a free place to stay...or use earn their stay by gambling.

From what he could gather… this Imperial Theater seemed to be a pretty damn important place if people were flocking to it and mentioning it in passing. Unsurprisingly the plays are the highlights. There were even some fliers that provided a schedule for the next few plays.

"Geez. I guess I need to work some of my old magic." Akiyama was, suffice to say, used to the whole ordeal of gathering info and possibly making the most of what he's got. It's how he's...somewhat successful in his business. Right now he needed to make some connections and a little money on the side. Learning about their current predicament can come later as Akiyama can vouch that connections and money can easily make the world go round. Money will definitely help, but it was mostly a favor for Haruka and Haruto.

All he needed to do was wait for the right people to look for. Akiyama decided to turn a bit into an indenture in the wall to give him a moment to think. He thought he could smoke for a moment, but he didn't have any cigarettes on him. He watched as the people passed by, men, women, children. They were all walking along their merry way. If they weren't in their weird...time travel(?) predicament, then he'd say he was just in a different city and note that nothing has changed from one city to the next. He didn't know how long he stood there as the crowd began to thin out just a little. The sun had slightly dipped down, but nowhere near the evening.

Akiyama stepped out of his little indenture, the people stepped around him as he was just a small obstacle in their path. Well he can definitely say for certain that people still acted like people. Something small slightly bumped into his foot and he promptly looked down. It was a bottle of some sort, there was no label on it, but some small letterings of x, 3, and v was on the very top of it. He picked it up and noticed it was completely filled to the brim. Wasn't even cracked open just a little.

"Sorry about that." A man in an unassuming blue suit said as he stopped right in front of Akiyama, "Dropped my bottle of alcohol and you picked it up. Mind giving it back to me?"

Akiyama noted that his demeanor was a bit _stressed_ for someone who just dropped a bottle of alcohol, usually the homeless would looked this stressed at the mere fact of a bottle slipping out of their hands. He smirked as he knew what to do now.

"I don't know. Seems to be a good case of finders keepers. Unless you'd be willing to compensate for-"

The man's eyes widened, "Could it be that you realized just what exactly that bottle is?! Only a true liquor connoisseur would be able to recognize such greatness, of course!"

Akiyama raised his brow as the man pulled out his wallet on a dime, "I was gonna say I don't need your mo-"

"Here is your card to the illustrious LC. With this you're able to come to any of our wine tastings, club exclusive wines, discounts on any alcoholic drinks, and anything else we're involved with."

"You know what… this works fine." Akiyama handed the man the liquor bottle back without a fuss and took the card in exchange.

"I look forward to meeting you at one of the events. A true connoisseur like you is always a treat."

Akiyama looked over the card details as soon as the man was out of eye shot.

_Liquor Connoisseur Card_

_Office is right next to the bookstore_

_Phone:XXX-XXX-XXXX_

_Just flash this at any alcohol vendors to get a discount and to enter member exclusive events_

_President and Founder: Saku "Sake" Shiro_

Akiyama just sighed and pocketed the things. He had a feeling that someone might want something like this. A connoisseur who wants something good, but can't find the right person to talk to. He took another look at the address. He had a feeling that he might find someone close by.

He spent a good fifteen minutes walking around, looping back and forth around the block of the bookstore and a few blocks further. Akiyama sighed.

"Maybe I should take a couple of steps back and start over." It wasn't unusual for trading to arrive at a dead end.

"I told you, we don't know anything about a Liquid Connoisseur building, nor a Liquid Connoisseur card."

"Come on. You don't have to hide it. I know a lot about alcohol and their contents. Did you know that there's a drink that's 80%-"

Akiyama looked over as a woman ran away from a man talking about alcohol. He was pretty sure he found his guy, but a quick jab ran through his mind as he approached the man.

"If you want to pick up women you're going to have to be a little less creepy."

The man blushed a bit and put a hand to the back of his hand, "Sorry. I didn't mean to I was just looking for the _Liquid_ Connoisseur building. I heard it was somewhere around here from one of my friends, but I can't seem to find it. I was hoping to find some members so I could get in."

"Liquid Connoisseur? Never heard of such a thing." Akiyama knew what the man was trying to say, but he was having a bit of fun.

"Yeah. It's a strange thing to be called when they're actually crazy about alcohol. They should be called something like...Alcohol Connoisseur so people don't get it wrong."

"You mentioned a card earlier? What's that about?"

"It's proof of membership. You've got to know a lot about alcohol, whether it be Wines, Rums, even the lowly beers. They don't just let anyone in you know?"

"So _Liquid Connoisseur?_"

"Yep!" The man had a smile on his face as though he passed on the wisdom of the Buddha.

"That's funny, it actually sounds quite similar to a thing called _Liquor Connoisseur." _Akiyama pulled out the card just to prove his point.

"Now that I think about it, perhaps it was Liquor Conn-" just as expected, the man's eyes lit up like a fire in the night, "This is it! Does this mean what I think it means?! Are you giving me this membership card?" The man reached out to it, but Akiyama snatched it away.

"Not so fast, I expect some compensation for this."

The man nodded his head as he pulled out a small bag, "Of course! I came prepared for possibly paying for my membership."

"I'm not talking about money. I'm thinking more of an exchange."

"Of course! If anyone could just buy it all the rich people could flaunt it around like it's nothing! We need to prove we're true connoisseurs after all."

Akiyama could feel the beads of sweat on his head start to fall down at his current situation. He didn't expect much, but this man was crazy for this. Basically a verified alcoholic by the looks of it.

The man tapped his foot on the ground and walked around putting a finger to his chin, "What to exchange. What to exchange? Maybe?"

He shot a hand towards his pocket and began to rummage through it. Either he had deep pockets, or there was a lot of stuff in there. It didn't take long for him to pull out something, "Got it!"

It looked like a simple smartphone...er..whatever they call the phones here, but definitely smaller than the average model he's seen around here, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but this is the latest prototype for the competitors for the Smartron, the Koba MK II. It's still in the prototype stages, but it has everything a Smartron has, but better than it in every way. It has texting capabilities and an enhanced camera function, plus developer tools necessary to create Koba MKII...well tools to use, but can't connect to a lot of places due to it being a prototype. It's apparently powered by the sun...to compete with the steam power of the Smartron. Not sure if it'll take off though."

"You're giving me the power to get you fired you know?"

"I know, but you look like a trustworthy guy."

"What about your bosses?"

"I'll just say it exploded when it was charging in the sun. It's actually quite common."

"These things explode?!"

"Mine doesn't, but it used to be common."

"Alright…no! Don't do something as stupid as trading a prototype for this card. I have a feeling I'll be dragged into a corporate warzone if I took that thing."

"I guess that makes sense. I can trade you this vintage lighter from America. It's harder to get lighters around here because of a trade embargo for lighters in Japan that happened a little while ago."

"What happened?"

"Some bigshot put the embargo up quietly and Japan put an embargo on themselves against the lighters. I tell you it only happened because it was quietly passed as something not that important to talk about. People were dealing with the New Machines built around the world, so a trade embargo on lighters was not noticed. It'll go down in a few months because someone finally noticed when they couldn't get their cigarettes lit. Apparently the homeless noticed first, but uh…"

Akiyama took the lighter out of his hands and handed him the card, "No one gives a crap about the homeless, right?"

He pocketed the lighter, "See you around."

"Thank you so much for the card!"

"Don't mention it."

…..

Okay. So far Akiyama managed to trade the lighter for a collectors item, the collectors item for a hat, the hat for a baseball bat, the baseball bat for a cake, the cake for an encased bug, an encased bug for a gold watch, a gold watch for a diamond, and now a diamond for a simple looking suit. The suit didn't scream anything eccentric, but had the word, "Sakurai" as a brand logo. It was encased in a nice enclosed box with nothing else.

The sun looked like it was going to set in at least two more hours, so it had to be around five or six. He was making good with what he was doing, but with the suit he felt like he took a lot of steps back from the diamond. It would've been easy to sell it to someone, but his instinctings told him to keep trading and trading.

He was looking around for someone to trade the suit, but this time _he _was stopped.

"Oi! That's a fancy suit you got on right now, _old man._"

Akiyama sighed and set the box down on the ground. The tone of voice said it all and he looked behind him to see a man in sunglasses. He had his hair slicked back, a completely white suit with a red tie, impressive shoes, and what appeared to be part of a tattoo peeking from around his neck. His hands were placed in his pockets and he slouched over to try and intimidate the loan shark.

"Why don't we trade? Your life for the suit you have on right now? Fair deal if you ask me."

Akiyama placed his arms above his head and stretched, he gave an exaggerated yawn as he did so. He then whistled, "I don't know. Seems unfair to you really. That's a nice suit you've got there."

"Think you're funny, old man?"

"This is clearly a misunderstanding, go pretend to play Yakuza somewhere else. I've got more important things to do."

Akiyama knew that the Yakuza took in all sorts of types, but the ones on the lower totem poll usually stuck in groups. This poser obviously wasn't one of them. He got his result anyway as the man adopted an expression of anger.

Now he expected some more banter to occur between the two of them, but he was completely unprepared for an immediate punch. He was sent towards the ground; the people around them scattered or formed a circle around them as a fight was about to commence.

**Yakuza Hunter**

"You damn Yakuza should really get out of-"

"Hold on! This really is a misunderstanding." Akiyama found himself to be mistaken, this man wasn't a Yakuza, no, he was a Yakuza Hunter! Akiyama's own eccentric suit had the man mistaken!

The man tried to jump on top of Akiyama, but the loan shark rolled backwards to avoid the attack. He tried to follow up by punching Akiyama as he got back up, but the loan shark grabbed both of his fists and used them as leverage to get back up. Akiyama shook the man's fists as a form of a mock greeting before pushing him back.

The Yakuza Hunter put his arms closer to his face, expecting punches to start flying. Akiyama opted to simply shake his feet idly and make a waving motion with his hand, "What's wrong? Can't hit an old man?"

The Yakuza Hunter didn't move from his spot, "Too afraid to break your bones, old man?"

"You should be more worried about yours."

Akiyama brought his fist up and the Yakuza Hunter steeled himself as he brought it down. He stopped his punch mid way through and quickly switched to using his legs. He kicked the man in the thigh, before following up with a direct kick to the man's stomach.

He stumbled back just a bit and left a perfect opening to attack his upper body, Akiyama brought his foot down and maneuvered his other foot forward and delivered four quick kicks in a row before finishing off with a roundhouse kick. The man dropped to the ground, but he was quick to recover. He was on his knees, but Akiyama wasn't going to let him take his sweet time to get up.

The loan shark charged forward and lunged towards the man's face with his knee, blood shot out of the Yakuza Hunter's mouth and he cradled his face to try and make the pain go away. The loan shark wasn't finished as he moved towards the man, grabbed him by the shoulders, and lifted him up. Akiyama then pulled the man's shirt towards him as a subtle _red_ aura formed around the loan shark. He felt the _heat_ of the climax to the fight as he began to insult the man.

"That all you got?"

He pushed the man away and shook his legs a couple of times. The Yakuza Hunter grunted as he charged forward to initiate his own relentless assault. Akiyama rolled his eyes as he swept the man's legs with his own sideways sweep to his feet. The man was suspended in the air for a precious few seconds. Akiyama had to hit the ground to initiate the leg sweep, but it worked to his advantage his he coiled on his back and sprung up from the ground. His legs would meet the back of the Yakuza Hunter as he was falling; the man could only give out a weak gasp from it.

The man bounced off of his feet and was sent a couple of feet away from him, but Akiyama was sent back on the ground. The loan shark slowly got up and clutched his own back a bit, but shook it off.

"Ouch. I got to get a bit more practice in doing those types of stunts again."

He looked towards the crowd of people who began to disperse after the fight was over. Some quick ran away, but tried to not look scared and walk away calmly. The loan shark sighed and slowly crept over the man who was clutching on to his back in agony.

"Come on, I didn't hit you that hard."

The man somewhat stopped his agony...well enough to shoot Akiyama a glare, "What do you call that?!"

"Going easy on a punk who has never been in a real fight before."

The man placed the ball of his arm on the ground to elevate his height. He still held his back, but he wasn't crying out, "Probably easy for a Yakuza like you."

Akiyama clicked his tongue, "I told you it was a misunderstanding. I'm not a Yakuza. If I was, you think I would be talking to you so calmly? Let me tell you what they would do." He crouched down to the man and lifted up his fingers, "1) They would force you to work for them to _compensate_ for a brazen attack on them. 2) Take you back to their office for a _special_ talk that would result in you mysteriously being found at the bottom of Tokyo Bay. 3) Held hostage for them to collect a ransom and substantial payments afterwards from someone you know. Or 4) Be arrested by the cops and put in jail for life. Some law enforcement get a big fat check from the Yakuza you know? Maybe you would even meet some of their buddies in prison? I can probably list a lot of others, but you get my point."

The man spat out a wad of blood on the ground and gave a short glare towards Akiyama. The loan shark sighed as he got up and extended a hand towards the man, who graciously grabbed it and was pulled up. Akiyama pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the man's blood off his face. He then handed the man an emergency Staminx he kept on him at all times.

"Drink some of this, should make you feel better."

The man didn't really have a choice as the bitter fluid was forced into his mouth. He let out an audible 'bleh', but noticed the helpful effects right away.

"I'm not going to apologize. You seriously look like you could be Yakuza with that getup."

"Alright, but let this be a lesson that you need to work on your style if you're going to be picking fights with any Yakuza. Got any reason for going out of your way to hunt them?"

"Do I need one? They're the scum of japan."

"Alright, just be careful next time. You're picking fights with very dangerous people, so choose your battles wisely."

The man kept silent and walked away from Akiyama not long after. He's seen multiple odd fellows, so it wasn't unusual to not learn their names.

The 'Sakurai' box was still where he left it, so he picked it up. He felt a tap on his shoulder, but from a low angle. He turned around to see an older woman in a kimono slightly bowing to him.

"Thank you for going easy on Yuta-kun. I think he's learned his lesson from the brief scuffle you had."

"I take it you're his sister?"

The woman smiled, "No, I'm way too old to be his. I'm actually his mother."

"Any idea why he's taking the path of a Yakuza Hunter?"

"It's a bit complicated, but he had a couple of childhood friends that ended up in the Yakuza. They died in a territory dispute with a rival family and now he's on the run looking for Yakuza to pick fights with. I think you knocked a little more sense into him than I could ever do as his mother."

"If he found a different guy he would be six feet under right now."

"If there's anyway I can repay you, just ask. My husband runs a medium sized company in Ginza, so I'm sure I can get you something. I think you changed Yuta-kun's direction in life for the better, so nothing will be too ludicrous."

Akiyama just gave a cursory glance towards the box he's holding, "Do you think you'd be willing to trade for this?"

"Name your price."

"I'm not looking for money. Just an exchange of items of importance." Besides he was going to get money in a completely different way.

The woman put her hand on her chin and thought of something to give to him for a few seconds, "Would time be a perfect thing to exchange?"

"Depends, what kind of time?"

"A meeting with _the_ Kanzaki Sumire."

"Huh?"

"My husband happens to have a meeting scheduled with her by 6:30pm today."

"That is pretty late in the workday. Also wouldn't your husba-"

"I didn't exactly say he runs the company _by himself._ I'm sure he would love to spend time with his _darling wife_."

Akiyama had a feeling he shouldn't pursue a line of questioning he had no business knowing,

"So...6:30 huh?"

Akiyama had a feeling he had a ticket to helping Haruka and Haruto. A steady job for Haruka of course. He's seen the fliers around town and he wasn't stupid. From what he gathered she was in charge of the Imperial Theater. He wasn't exactly hoping to get Haruka a job as an actor in the play, but anything else would also help… maybe a personal maid, overnight janitor, or even someone as simple as an usher.

...

**Next chapter should be the final one for this before the English release of the game comes out. ****I'm feeling it'll be short and sweet, but not too sure. **


	5. Chapter 5

Kamiyama Seijuro yawned as he was called upon the day where the least amount of traffic will flow through the Imperial Theater; which was strangely Tuesday of course. Since the situation called for so it was also a low staff day. Since he hasn't been around long enough he was a go-to for working on a low staff day. And with that, it meant he was going to be the janitor for the day.

Surprisingly, he was supposed to watch over a new girl, a Sawamura Haruka. She wasn't joining in as a stage member, the Theater didn't have enough budget to manage that. Instead, she is to be appointed as a staff member that did a little bit of everything, but mostly janitorial work. Rumor had it that more than a couple of strings were pulled just to have Kanzaki Sumire hire her. Though that sounded a bit farfetched really. If strings were pulled then the new girl would've been hired as a member of the stage, but then he would be doubting on Sumire's abilities. He's seen how she deals with the Yakuza who try to strongarm her with taking over the theater with a strong face and more than a couple of ways of telling them to leave.

Sakura had decided to also help out on the low staff day, but her job at the moment was to basically do laundry for any dirty costumes; needless to say, she was going to have her hands full. Seijuro kept a smile on his face as Haruka managed to find him, a mop and a bucket in her hands.

"Sawamura-san, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I take it you're ready to do some cleaning?"

To Seijuro's surprise, Haruka frowned a bit, "Please, call me Haruka. I know it's a strange thing to ask a person you just met-"

"Alright...Haruka-san." He could've sworn he heard a small jingle in his head as Haruka smiled.

"Thank you Kamiyama-san. I'll be in your care for the rest of today."

Haruka bowed a bit. Kamiyama almost felt the need to make a small remark that she should call him by first name too, but he had a small feeling it might cause more trouble than its worth. On a different note usually, young women like Haruka have aspirations to be an actor. He'll probably ask a bit later, for now, they had to clean the main stage and the seats around it.

Of course, the main stage is cleaned every day, especially after a play, but it does well to keep the place tidy to prevent any unneeded accidents. Haruka took the liberty of mopping up with an appropriate amount of soap and drying in small sections to prevent the water from creeping under the boards.

Seijuro meanwhile swept around the base permitter and made sure nothing got between the cracks of the seats. There wasn't anything that needed any heavy-duty cleaning at the moment, but he couldn't be too sure.

He paused a little bit later since he was curious about the woman he was working with, "Haruka-san."

Haruka didn't stop drying a specific spot, but she gave a small noise to indicate that she was listening.

He cleared his throat to give himself a precious second or so to clarify his question, "There's a rumor going about that some strings were pulled to get you here. Though honestly, it seems a bit farfetched that you would have strings pulled just to get hired on as a janitor...right?" Usually when one's strings are pulled someone like Haruka would've been in a much higher position than this.

"No that's true."

"Thank goodness I though-" Seijuro coughed a bit and shook his head a couple of times, "Come again?"

"I'm sorry, Kamiyama-san. I know it's a little unfair, but someone really wanted me to get any type of job that was a low risk at the moment. Honestly, they did it out of nowhere and next thing I know I'm getting interviewed by Kanzaki-san."

"Hold on! Go back! You had some strings pulled for you just to get a janitorial job?" Kamiyama had gotten a little bit closer to the stage.

"It's a jack of all trades type of deal really." Haruka had gotten up from her position and bowed a bit to the man.

Seijuro placed a hand behind his head at the sudden bow and tried to reassure that the gesture wasn't needed, "I know, but I'm surprised you didn't try to use your connections to be an actor. I mean a lot of people want to try for that opportunity. Especially in the Imperial Theater."

Haruka shook her head, "Not really. I can sing _a bit_, but I can't act. Plus acting wouldn't let me see my kid. I've heard the stories of children of actors not getting along with their parents."

"I guess that makes-" Seijuro took a moment to process what she actually said, "Wait-"

"Just kidding, I don't have a high interest in acting. I just need a stable job to support my kid, Haruto-chan." She either didn't read the expression on Seijuro's confused face, or she read it and was toying with him. He didn't know which one sounded better.

Before he could voice his own question about Haruka's age someone's very familiar to him voiced her own.

"Ehhh!? You have a child?" He spun around to see Sakura had decided to visit them and she quickly made her way to the stage to talk with Haruka.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Sakura-san."

Sakura shook her head and put her hands up a bit, "That's fine, Haruka-san."

Seijuro wasn't sure if he wanted to sigh at the fact that the two were already on a first-name basis with each other. Haruka probably just explained her first name thing and Sakura wanted to be called by her first name if she was calling Haruka by her first name. Not that complicated really. If he did it it would've caused a misunderstanding later, he just knows it.

"Are you older than you look?"

"No, not really. I'm only 24 years old."

Seijuro almost comically fell over the seating, he could've sworn Haruka was younger than that. One look at her figure would make one assume that she just got into her twenties or probably about to enter her twenties.

"Really?! You don't look a day over 19!" Sakura got a closer look at Haruka's face; she didn't do much just place her hands in front of Haruka's face, but no contact was made as she seemed to imitate what one would see in a silly picture.

Seijuro shook his head and absentmindedly checked around the theater for anything that would be labeled as dirty. Always need this place to be tip-top shape unless they get some very angry customers.

Sakura continued to speak to Haruka as she moved her hands away from the woman, "How do you manage to look so young?"

Haruka's mind flashed images of her dancing, fighting, dance-fighting…"I guess I just eat really healthy foods!" Granted she only recently started fighting ever since her guardian was announced dead all those years ago. Thugs would start to look for fights or try to kidnap her now that he was gone, but the thing about hanging out with men who constantly get into fights is that she somewhat picked up on how things go. She found her own style that somewhat imitated her guardian, but was distinct enough to be her own.

Sakura simply laughed, "Really? What would you recommend?"

Haruka paused and took a moment to think of something before she responded. She was familiar with eating healthy foods as an Idol she had to keep her image by both exercising and eating healthy foods. She didn't manage to fall into the traps of eating nothing, eating simple greens, or puking out everything that goes into her body. She had a range of delicacies that she could choose from, but she probably didn't have to pick anything too foreign. She gave a look at Sakura's yukata to somewhat confirm that she didn't need something outlandish or foreign. Though food isn't the only thing to keep your body healthy and young-looking.

"You could go for some simple Natto and White Rice. Seafood is a good alternative too. Eat a good amount of noodles filled with nutrients too. Don't forget that eating isn't the only thing you need to do; you need to exercise as well."

Haruka flashed a smile on top of all of that and Sakura's eyes sparkled, "I'm already eating a lot of those already and exercising with my kata practice! You mean I won't look too different a couple of years from now?"

Seijuro silently chuckled, "Still look similar to when we were younger."

Sakura at this point decided to help out a bit with cleaning the stage as well. She said that she was almost done with the costumes anyway. She's actually done the costume cleaning multiple times before and knows what to do with each and every costume and how to clean them. The knowledge just comes from repetition.

Seijuro had decided to take a bit of a break on the second floor after checking the area on said floor. As expected there wasn't much to completely clean over, but it still helped to always check three times over. He looked down to see that the main stage was getting the final touches to clean it by Haruka and Sakura. The stage was a special place that needed the utmost care, it's where the audience will look at completely and anything out of place will be distracting. The audience needs to be immersed in what they're seeing and a little imperfection can go a long way. One could almost say the ones who clean the stage might work harder than the performers.

Seijuro was about to get back to whatever he was about to do next when his body told him to stick around a little longer. A sly smile appeared on his face as he knew something…'nice' would pop up. One could say that his body sometimes moved on its own; usually, it leads to good things, but he decided to crouch down so that his entire body couldn't be seen from the first floor. He had a feeling it was going to be one of 'those' types of situations.

The stage practically sparkled as the lights above it were reflected on them. From behind the curtains Sakura and Haruka emerged, they finished cleaning the backstage and were simply with it in its entirety. The bucket used earlier was being held in Sakura's hands.

Seijuro had a slight idea about where this was going.

"Do you think I'd be able to see Haruto-chan around the theater?"

"I'm not sure, Sakura-san. I don't plan to bring Haruto to where I work. I don't want to impose him on anyone here."

Sakura shook her head and put her hands up defensively, "I'm sure he won't impose on anyone here. You can just show him around on your off da-"

The perfect cleaning of the two from earlier turned out to be their downfall as they both slipped on the _perfectly waxed_ stage. The bucket flew out of Sakura's hands and up into the air letting out all the water. Sakura simply flopped back to the ground on her rear, but Haruka did something interesting.

Like a cat, she contorted a good amount of her body to do a flip from her previously disadvantaged position and essentially land back on her feet. She basically did a weird backflip, however, it was short-lived as the waxy floor was still beneath her and caused her to fall onto her face. Seijuro almost laughed but resisted to not give away his position.

The water from the bucket came down on the two girls and Seijuro simply enjoyed the view. Sakura had some of Yukata become undone from the water splashing down on her and exposing a bit of what she wore underneath it. However, the light blue from the Yukata didn't reveal much. It was still good for his eyes nonetheless.

Haruka, on the other hand, had the water completely soak her back and expose it despite the white hoodie and red shirt she was wearing underneath. Since the water was more concentrated on her back Seijuro could almost get a good look at her nicely toned back and a bit of a tease from her finely tuned muscles. She was a lot stronger than she looked in the hoodie, but his mind was mostly focused on the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. At least the lack of straps on her back seems to indicate so. Seijuro mentally cursed that Haruka didn't land on her back.

He was about to find a way to sneak away from the scene when his mind suddenly focused on the scene in front of him once again. 'Could this be… a Revelation?'. He experienced his first Revelation not too long ago, he can only wonder what he could learn from the scene below.

"Are you alright, Sakura-san?" Haruka groaned and managed to get on a single knee.

"I'm so sorry, Haruka-san!" Sakura tried to get back up quickly but slipped back onto her knees.

Haruka managed to get up and take a step forward, but slipped and was sent tumbling towards Sakura. Her instinct was to dive roll, but it would end up hurting them both more than tumbling into each other. Haruka slammed into Sakura and caused them slide off stage and onto the ground in front of the audience seats. It would've made an amazing slapstick routine if it wasn't entirely unintentional. Haruka landed face-first into the ground and Sakura landed with her rear in the air. The two groaned in mild pain as they took a moment to try and recollect themselves.

Seijuro took a moment to think about the..scene he just witnessed, but his mind was drawing up blanks at the moment. Like he missed the point of focus his mind was showing him. In any case he just had to head downstairs and try not to laugh while he was at it. Nor should he reveal that he was watching the whole time. It was gonna take a bit more time for them to clean up the stage...again.

**Seijuro Revelation: Hell's Gauntlet ⅓ witnessed.**

….

"And that should be it for the day. You did a good job, Haruka-san. Can't wait to work with you again."

Seijuro and Haruka did the rest of the cleaning around the theater. Sakura had her own duties to do after the stage incident and he continued to show Haruka the places she was allowed access to clean and whatnot. It was quick and efficient work and Haruka mostly told him about Haruto when he had nothing to say. He didn't mind it one bit though. He's just glad to have someone to talk with that isn't immediately wary of him because of his new leadership status. He knows the basics of gaining trust says it takes time, but he has a feeling it might take a bit before he can prove himself to them.

He outwardly sighed and tried to make his mind wander to think about something else, "Hey Haruka-san. Who's the father to Haruto-san. If you don't mind me asking."

"My Husband, Usami Yuta…" Haruka looked down at the ground, "He's...missing at the moment."

Seijuro inwardly cursed at himself, "Sorry, didn't mean to-"

"He's actually been kidnapped. And I tried to follow their demands to get him back, but it didn't work."

Seijuro kept silent on the matter for a moment, she looked like she had something more to say. He saw the fire light in her eyes and could barely see the faint _white_ aura that slowly enveloped her being.

"I'm going to find them and bring back my husband. My baby misses his father and I'm going to destroy whoever makes him cry."

Seijuro saw her clenching her fist enough to make a small crackle sound, but he could feel her drive. He could practically feel her passion and drive. He smiled as he placed a hand on Haruka's shoulder.

"Alright! I'll help you out when the time comes!" The jingles in his head once again sounded as Haruka calmed down and smiled.

"Thank you, Kamiyama-san." Haruka's smile changed into a smug smirk, "I wonder what Sakura-san's expression would be at this scene here?"

"I know some else's reaction would to immediately call me a pervert."

The two chuckled at their own predicament. It was the end of the very slow day after all.

….

Golder stretched and finally laid down on the comfy futon provided to him by Saejima. She was kind enough to provide a place for him to stay and a job, but he didn't want to push his limits on asking for a western bed. He's gotten used to it anyhow. It was a busy day today and his muscles were happy to finally be resting and ready for bed.

His mind wandered back to a few days ago with his encounter with the local Yakuza. Especially his encounter with the paid homeless men. Some criminals were dead-set on killing him just for associating with them. He was stupid for not trying to defend himself then, but he could only blame that for being shocked. He's been in a fight with other hockey players in the rink before and they do get crazy at times...so he should've defended himself right?

Now that he thinks about it there's probably a gang war or something going on..oh well what's in the past is what's in the past. It's not like he's going to get in a lot of street fights or something.

…

Yagami placed his legs on the desk in front of him in the hotel room that he and Akiyama had convinced the owner to give to them. It was more of a -beat the crap out of the guards guarding the casino and they get free rooms as long as they don't tell any of the regular patrons. They were barred from using it themselves, but a small price to pay for a good room to himself.

Around the room were scattered notes of his own investigation of the place they're in. He's gone over some of them with Akiyama and Haruka, but left them to their own devices should they want to learn more. He hasn't found any true leads on Haruto, but he had a feeling that he should open the Yagami Detective Agency- ALT 1940's branch sooner or later. Keep a steady income for himself...er.. Steady is used loosely though.

He lit up a cigarette and chuckled to himself, "Can't believe I'm accepting this bullshit. But I'm living the dream of any Mecha fanboy." He wrote down another note to look into more of this Spiracle stuff.

…

Akiyama yawned as he watched Haruto play by himself. He honestly should've expected this since Haruka was now working, but talk about being paranoid. She boarded the windows and had three types of locks on the doors. He knows that they, whoever they are, can strike at any time to grab Haruto, but they had multiple opportunities to do so already. But his instincts told him that Haruto and Haruka were in the clear. Their part of the game was over until they were needed later.

To what end he did not know. He's done his own investigating parallel to Yagami, but he's only pulled together what they already mutually figured out. He wasn't a detective like Yagami, but he'll be damned if he didn't try to figure things out.

Akiyama believed he should relax at some point. Things were clearer and seemed more direct when he could be just relaxing at any time he wanted. People will call him lazy all the time, but he gets results and he worked hard to be that lazy damn it!

"Oi. Haruto. You gonna get yourself killed if I take a siesta?"

Haruto looked at Akiyama and shook his head.

"Good. Just don't do anything stupid; like I would and we'll be fine."

Akiyama shut his eyes.

"Sleep tight, Uncle-Aki."

And smiled.

….

**Well, that should be it for the 5 chapter thing before the release of Shin Sakura Wars in English. They're just calling it Sakura Wars here, but it's fine. They're aiming for April 28th release- so expect more chapters to come out about a month or so after it. Complete the game by then to try my hand at continuing this fic and all. I can't wait for Yakuza 7 to release in English too. **

**Just tell me what you're thoughts so far for this and leave anything else you would want to share in the reviews- I really appreciate them. If there are any questions feel free to PM them or ask in the reviews and I'll PM later. **

**With that, I'm signing off for now. And I hope to see ya'll in a couple of months. **


	6. Chapter 6

"It's nice to meet you Yagami-san."

Yagami gave a smile as he stared at the man in a chef's costume, "You must be Gohan-san, correct?"

"Nice to know that you read my name. I just can't believe I've never heard of you before."

Yagami placed a hand on the back of his head, "Well it's a new establishment."

The man in the chef's costume smiled and raised a fist in excitement, "Well, you couldn't have been established at a better time!"

"Yeah, I remember your request in your letter. You want me to find your..hats?"

**Side Case: A Chef's Pride!**

Yagami had set up fliers around town. He didn't expect to get anything in response so quick though. At least a day or so, but not in a couple of hours. Now here he was, near a street vendor in a chef's costume. Yagami could smell the Takoyaki whiffing off the stall.

"YES!" The sudden shift in voice made Yagami jump, "My box of chef hats went missing just a few hours ago. I can't sell anything without a single hat!"

Yagami looked at the man's head. A distinct parting of hair to make way for a bald spot in the middle of it. A hatless man by the looks of it.

"Are you that self conscious about your hair?"

The man tilted his head, "What're you talking about?"

"Your hair. You're balding, but that doesn't mean you should be ashamed of it. It's only nat-"

"This isn't about my hair, Yagami-san! This is about my pride as a chef!"

"So, you're fine with your hair?"

"Of course I am. My hats are all that I care about. If I don't wear one, how are people going to know I am a chef?"

Yagami sighed. It was gonna be another one of _those_ cases, huh?

"I mean, you look the part already. You have a stall and everything."

"Yes, but without my hat. I am nothing…"

Yagami put up a bit of a false smile, "Alright… so, what do you mean that your box of hats is missing? Can you give me a lead on where to look?"

"It's as I described. They just straight up went missing without much of a trace. Here, I'll show you where I usually put them"

Gohan motioned for Yagami to follow him closer to the cart. The chef crouched down to open a fridge compartment only visible on the cooker's side. Yagami took an immediate note on that.

"You keep your hats in the fridge?"

"Yeah, gotta keep them cool for a warm day like this one."

"That's actually not a bad idea. So, what's the other box in there."

Gohan's face lit up, "That's the takoyaki, the box holds more takoyaki than you think it can. Surprised me at first too."

Yagami nodded, "Is the hat box similar to the takoyaki box?"

"Not really. They're completely different, but to the untrained eye they can be quite similar. Let me tell ya, I almost cooked my hats more times than I can count."

"Uh-huh. So, you can tell which ones which?"

The chef costumed man nodded his head.

"Are there any other vendors around usually?"

"Yeah, but not today though. I have the honor of being the only stall on the block today." Gohan's smile faded a bit, "You think my competitors took my box of hats?! They know how much I pride them! I suspect someone like Kizuna would, girl always has her eyes on my stand when we're against each other on the same day."

"I don't think so, with what you're telling me, it's safe to believe that you're competitors aren't involved in this."

Gohan sighed in relief, "Thank goodness, that Kizuna girl's pretty cute. I shouldn't have suspected her in the first place."

Yagami chuckled, "Moving on. Let's go over everything real fast. First your hats went missing today, only a couple of hours ago at most."

"Yep."

"None of your competitors were out today, that much is for certain. You also keep your hats in a box in the fridge that's similar to the takoyaki box, see where I'm going with this."

He shook his head, "I don't think so."

"Tell me, why do people come to this stand?"

"To buy takoyaki."

"Why would people buy takoyaki?"

"It's delicious and people are hungry."

Yagami clapped his hands together, "Now tell me, why would people want to rob a takoyaki stand? Aside from money, but you haven't been making a big deal out of any supposed stolen currency."

The man froze in place for a solid second as a light went off in his eyes. His brows flared up, "Wait. They were trying to steal takoyaki?!"

"Bingo."

"Bin-go?"

Yagami shook his head, "Sorry, some western slang."

"If what you're saying is correct, then I wouldn't have needed you at all! Takoyaki and its ingredients are cheap and quick to order, the loss for takoyaki would be negligible compared to my hats! If they're gonna rob me, at least rob something other than the hats!"

Yagami felt beads of sweat roll down his head, "I'm not sure if you understand or don't? I think you both understand and don't understand the situation."

"What I understand is my hats were a case of mistaken identity! Oh, when I get my hands on whoever did this, I'll-"

"You'll what, you 2 bit chef?!"

Yagami and Gohan looked away from each other and directed their attention towards a big and imposing young man, no older than an 18 year old by his looks. He had an opened box in his hands, showing that revealed-

"My hats!"

"I was expecting a box of takoyaki, not some cheap hats!"

The young man chucked the box towards the ground and kicked it.

"Stop, don't harm my hats!"

"Gohan-san. I think your hats won't be the only ones hurt."

Some bystanders stopped what they were doing to check out the commotion, the young man didn't care.

"Hand me the rest of your takoyaki, or else!"

The young man had seemingly pulled a sword out who knows where and pointed it towards the chef.

Gohan let out a scream as he ducked behind his cart and dived immediately for the takoyaki box.

Yagami intervened, "Gohan-san, don't listen to this punk. He's not worth the time and energy."

"Are you insane, Yagami-san, he'll kill us!"

Yagami sighed and shook his head. He looked over towards the assailant, "Alright. What the hell's wrong with you? All of this just for some takoyaki?"

"Yaga-"

"I'm not here to give you my life story, old man. Just get the takoyaki and we'll be on our way."

"We'll be? You got some friends waiting for a signal, buddy?"

This was the last straw for the young man as the sword in his hand shook violently and he launched himself towards Yagami.

**Disgruntled Youth**

Yagami easily dodged the stab the young man was obviously going for. In response he grabbed the young man's arm and twisted it enough to make an audible popping sound.

The young man let out a shout, but he was tougher than that. He let go of the sword and bashed his head against Yagami's, causing him to stumble back. He cradled his arm just a bit and tried to shake it off. He quickly crouched down and grabbed the sword in his less dominant hand.

Yagami recovered from the headbutt and dodged a wide strike from the man. The tip of the sword nicked his clothes a bit, but he was fine. The young man spun around to try and strike Yagami again, but he could obviously see it coming. He dodged again, as the young man went for a third strike.

Yagami couldn't believe he was going for another strike as the young man once again swung the sword haphazardly. Instead of stepping back and dodging, Yagami jumped and curled his body to avoid the blade. He kept his body curled as he landed on the ground and rolled closer to the young man. His arms shot out and grabbed the man's legs, to which he yanked them back towards his chest, causing the man to fall to the ground.

Yagami didn't end it there as he kept his hold on the man's legs and used his own to get himself back up. He spun around a bit and threw the man towards a wall. The man still didn't give in as he tried to get back up.

Yagami shook his head as he ran towards the wall. He jumped towards the wall with one leg extended and used it to hop off the wall. The result was him jumping off the wall and spinning to kick the assailant right in his face.

A pained groan from the ground indicated that the young man gave up his 's shoulders eased up as the young man rolled over and positioned himself on his hands and knees to beg.

"I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY! Don't hurt me anymore, please! Forgive me!"

Yagami crouched down and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder, "Don't apologize to me, apologize to Gohan-san. You robbed him."

The young man looked up and dragged his knees towards Gohan, "I'm so sorry, sir! I have no excuses, I was just trying to feed my younger siblings! They're just little kids 5 and 10 years old!"

"That's a noble goal, but that's no excuse for stealing my hats."

Yagami coughed into his hands.

"I mean stealing in general is also bad, but anyway it's not something that can easily be forgiven."

"I-I know. I'll mend my ways, I swear."

"Yeah, yeah, something people hear a thousand times. I can't simply take your word for it." Gohan reached for some takoyaki that has been on the cart for a while. He grabbed a dozen or so and wrapped them up in a napkin. He walked towards the young man and crouched, holding the napkin in his hands.

"These will go to your siblings. ONLY your siblings, I better not learn you even ate one of these things."

The man looked Gohan in the eyes and a beamed, "Re-really?! Thank you, sir!" He tried to grab the napkin, but it was yanked away from him.

"After that I want you to come back here to hear the rest of my scolding you understand. I gotta teach you some manners about treating other people's hats. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

Gohan shoved the napkin into the young man's hands. He got up, clutching the napkin tight to his chest and ran off. The crowd of onlookers had dispersed a while ago.

"Sure you can trust his word?"

"I think you literally beat the senses into him, Yagami-san. He probably now knows the risk of stealing someone's property. That could've been his last moments if you didn't stop."

Yagami rolled his eyes a bit and they landed on the sword he left on the ground, "What should we do with his sword? Don't want to leave it lying around, you know?"

"I'll take it, after that encounter I better learn how to defend myself. Don't know what type of crazies are out there."

Gohan picked the sword off the ground and collected the hats. He simply placed the sword to lean on the cart and put the hats in the fridge. At the very least they weren't that badly damaged from the abuse it took.

"Aren't you going to wear one of your hats? Since you did get them back and all, a celebratory wearing is in order."

"Goodness, no, why would I wear them?"

Yagami blinked, "What?

"I give these to kids and tell them they can be chefs themselves one day if they help their parents with cooking." Gohan's smile was genuine.

Yagami shook his head, "Then what was all that about "a chef's pride" stuff?"

"Yeah! A chef's pride in watching the spark of cooking enter the minds of children! The hats help a ton."

"So, you yourself don't wear a hat?"

"Nope!"

Yagami shook his head a couple of times and shrugged his shoulders, "Guess some things never change. Anyway since the situation solved itself, he was going to come back whether you hired me or not, let's say my investigative skills were only worth 1,000 yen. Barely an inconvenience on my end"

"Got it!"

The man went behind his cart and put some money into an envelope to give to Yagami. When he came back to Yagami with the envelope, it was obviously bulging just a bit.

"Whoa, whoa! I didn't do much. No need to give me so much."

"You call fighting a man to protect me too much? You saved my life, Yagami-san! I would give you my entire fortune if it meant repaying you!"

Yagami put his hands up, "Let's not go too far, Gohan-san."

"Please, just take it. And thank you so much, Yagami-san. Now that I think about it, he probably would've come back to rob me again and again if I gave in."

"Well, you almost did."

"That's besides the point, the extra 10,000 yen is a gift. You know how rude it would be to reject one, right?"

Yagami chuckled and accepted the gift, "And here I was thinking you couldn't think about anything other than hats. Hopefully you can tell your friends about my services, don't go telling them too much about my fighting stuff. Don't want people assuming I can just be a bodyguard for hire."

"Come back anytime, Yagami-san. I'll get some fresh takoyaki with your name on it!"

**A Chef's Pride: Case Closed!**

Yagami was making his way back to the hotel. The Grand Imperial Hotel they called it. Apparently so legit that they have a gambling den in plain damn sight. They were probably paying off the inspectors with the money they got from it. Yagami was a bit disappointed that he couldn't stick around for a couple of wagers, but that's the price of...well blackmailing the owner to stay in their rooms free of charge. They would lose it completely, if they started to clean house in the hidden den.

Yagami sighed as he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and placed himself closer to the street. He pulled out a cigarette and lighter. He placed the cigarette in his mouth, but before he could bring the lighter to it a blur of purple and yellow shoved right into him and caused him to stumble, the cigarette falling to the ground. He looked at the retreating figure with a very irritated face, they got farther than one would think after bumping into someone and he couldn't completely identify them, but that wasn't the point.

"Hey! Watch where you-"

It was at that moment when Yagami cupped his hands that he realized that his lighter was gone...in fact his cigarette pack was gone too!

"What the? HEY! GET BACK HERE!"

A few bystanders were startled by his sudden shouting, but he quickly took after the escaping figure. He weaved through crowds quite easily and dodged a few of the oncoming traffic. The figure then took a dive into a nearby alleyway and Yagami followed. As he turned the corner a couple of sharp objects were thrown his way, but he slid right under them, one of them barely missed his head. His momentum didn't stop as he quickly regained his footing to see that the figure was already running away on the other side of a fence.

Yagami cursed under his breath, but he didn't let that deter him. He practically hugged the walls of the alley and jumped towards the opposing wall when he got closer to the fence. He kicked his feet off the wall serving as an extra jump to get him over the fence without taking any time to climb it.

He tumbled a bit on the landing, but he still kept his momentum going. He kept chasing the figure as they tried their best to get rid of him, but he was pretty persistent when it came to his stuff being stolen. Events would seem to repeat themselves as he weaved through more crowds, jumped over more fences, dodge incoming traffic, rinse and repeat. He was getting tired, but he was not going to give up!

It all came to a halt as he followed the figure to a rooftop, after they somehow got on top of other rooftops mind you, and he managed to find his own passage to the rooftops. The figure was nowhere to be seen, but his pack of cigarettes and lighter were littered on the ground. Yagami smirked as he finally walked towards the items that were rightfully his.

"Probably figured out they weren't going to shake me."

It turned out he was a bit overconfident in his statement as he crouched down and immediately felt a cold and sharp object leaning on the back of his neck.

"Isolate the unknown ninja, complete."

The voice belonged to a young sounding girl. Actually a very young sounding girl, Yagami couldn't roll his eyes far enough to see her and he didn't dare move his head.

"Ninja?"

"A ninja can't hide from another ninja, especially when they can sense a distinctly powerful one at that.

"You got it wrong, I'm not a ninja." Yagami couldn't believe he was being mistaken for a ninja...again!

"It's no use lying, I've sensed a strange powerful force in the city for a couple of days. Only a skilled ninja could detect such energy. Of course it had to be another powerful ninja. State your clan name."

Great, he was being held hostage by a young wannabe ninja. The sharp object to his neck prevented any snide remarks like that from coming out, "You got the wrong impression about me. My name is Yagami Takayuki, a private detective starting his career in Ginza. I'm sure this is a case of mistaken identity."

"No, I can feel the styles of the Tiger and the Crane resonating deep within you. They're on a level comparable to a master. You've probably been honing those styles for years. Are you the leader of your clan?"

He could feel the object press up against his skin a bit harder, "I told you, I'm not a ninja."

There was a moment of silence as his assailant contemplated his words for a moment, "Then you must be eliminated to prevent-"

SCREW THAT! Yagami usually had a policy of not fighting women, but his life depended on it right now! His mind went into overdrive as his own hands quickly grabbed the arm that was directly behind his back and threw her over his shoulders. The girl quickly recovered in mid-air and landed on her feet.

**Crazy Ninja Girl**

The girl was actually younger than he thought she was. There stood a girl no older looking than 14 years old in mainly yellow and purple garments, sandals that popped out with heels in the middle to give a boost in height, and strange stockings that were a bit too close to fishnets for a girl her age.

Yagami's spirit faltered a bit when he got a better look at her. His dodgy style of the Crane would have to do at the moment as he contored his body to dodge shurikens thrown his way. He made a quickstep and a roll as the girl tried to close the distance between them. He really didn't have it in him to fight a little girl that seemed to be barely a teenager.

She managed to get a few scrapes on to his skin as she moved fast, but he was fast enough to dodge. The cuts were going to quickly add up in no time. He could barely keep up with her! He dodged a pair of kunai, but was immediately slashed in the back, but his adrenaline kept him moving. It was a minor cut compared to a sword!

Yagami rolled out of the way as kunais and shurikens came at him all at once from all sides. Saying this girl was fast is an understatement! He bent backwards at a seemingly unnatural angle as a couple of more kunai came his way. He quickly recovered to a normal stance and quickly shot his arms out. He managed to stop the lightning quick girl from making a decisive stab towards his neck.

"A normal person wouldn't have been able to dodge any of those blows. You're more dangerous than you keep letting on."

"And a normal person would talk this stuff out!"

The girl managed to free herself from his arm lock and used the back of his head as a jumping pad. He rolled out of the way on instinct, but a shuriken managed to lodge itself on one of his legs. His adrenaline kept him going as he quickly pulled the sharp star out and chuck it towards the ground. Yagami dived on the ground after he saw the girl had taken to try and kick him- her leg soared right past his back and she hit the ground and rolled in her desired direction to keep her momentum. Yagami rolled on his back, scrunched his back, and jumped back up.

He dodged once again on instinct and shot his arm out to grab the girl and stop her from stabbing right into his chest.

"Look, did I offend you without knowing? We can easily talk this out over uh…food. I can buy you some food."

"I can't let an unknown ninja roam freely around Ginza. You could be a spy for an opposing clan."

"God damn it, kid. You're fighting me off a presumption! Go play pretend somewhere else!"

The girl's features noticeably loosened and became a bit downtrodden.

"Do you believe yourself to be so powerful that you won't acknowledge another ninja's skills?"

"I acknowledge the fact that you're trying to kill me."

Yagami needed to end this in one absolute blow. One strike to simply make her stop what she was doing! He mentall cursed himself for what he was about to do, but it was the only way to make this girl see reason! He swung the girl around and let go of her arm. He quickly switched to his other fighting style of the Tiger as she landed on the ground and looked directly at Yagami.

"I guess we're doing this. Let's go!"

Yagami sighed as he felt a boost of energy culminate throughout his entire being. He let out a shout as he punched the ground to let some of that energy release itself from his body. He planted his feet firmly on the ground, raised his arms in a particular manner ready to strike, and stared down the girl with the most intense glare he could muster. He always found that the stare seemed to keep a person in place, as they tried to glare back.

Instead of a glare being sent his way the girl stood there wide eyed. He was going to need to adjust his strike for her size, but he hoped that he didn't hurt her too much.

From the girl's perspective she saw the rage of a tiger about to pounce. The amount of energy in his fist would be more than enough to _kill _her in one blow if she wasn't careful enough. She was surprised that he mastered the art of energy release at such an intensity. No! She needed to concentrate, the enemy could strike at any mom-

Without warning, the full force of a raging tiger lunged at her. Her heart began to beat at an insane pace. Yagami's fist aiming right towards her heart with the express purpose of making it explode. The girl had unfortunately froze at the image of an angry tiger gunning for her and she closed her eyes knowing these were her last breaths. For a ninja fight, only one could claim victory and live on.

After what felt like an eternity felt nothing. Perhaps she died so fast that she didn't process it? Or maybe the world wanted her to see her own demise at the hands of a superior ninja? She didn't like either possibility. She slowly opened her eyes to see Yagami's fist had stopped right above her heart. He slowly crept his fist up and flicked a finger on her nose. Her body seemed to react before her mind did as her heart slowly went back to a normal pace.

Yagami smirked and stepped back a couple of paces to process what just happened.

"You alright?"

The girl snapped out of her daze for just a moment and nodded her head. She took a step back and bowed just slightly to Yagami.

"I will acknowledge that I have been bested and spared by a superior ninja."

Yagami sighed and shook his head, "Naw, I could barely dodge any of your attacks. In the end I never got a single hit on you."

"A single decisive strike is what a ninja should truly strive for."

"For the last time, I'm not a ninja."

The girl didn't say anything after his comment. She seemed to contemplate something to herself before shaking her head.

Yagami continued, "Mind if I have your name? I have a distinct feeling that you won't be leaving me alone for a while."

"Mochizuki Azami, I'm only telling you because you spared me."

"Nice to meet you, Mochzuki-san. As I said before I'm Yagami Takayuki, private detective and new to the area."

The girl nodded and backed away, "I must take my leave for now. I may have suffered a defeat, but I will be keeping a close eye on you from now on, Yagami-san."

_**Friendship Event: Mochizuki Azami**_

"Hey, wait a minute."

Yagami tried to stop the girl from running, but she already took off and jumped at a seemingly impossible height to another rooftop. Yagami shook his head in disbelief for a moment and sighed, "Why is it always the weirdos?"

He finally collapsed on his back and tried gasping for some much needed air after the nonstop action from his encounter. That girl had pushed his body to the absolute limit.

"I could go for some food right now, takoyaki is suddenly starting to sound amazing right now." Unfortunately for him, the only takoyaki stand he knew was more than a couple of blocks back.


	7. Chapter 7

"Welcome to Sky Finance, Imperial Hotel branch. What brings you here today?"

Akiyama greeted his latest customer in what amounted to his hotel room. He was pretty sure the owner of the hotel would be fine with him opening up shop in his own room. Gotta make a living somehow as he's not allowed in the 'hidden casino'.

He at least made it a point to make the small chairs provided by the hotel become the best business seats he could make them. Three seats facing another three seats separated by a table.

He motioned for his customer to sit across from him. His customer wore a full set of red workers overalls, sunglasses, and a face mask.

"Nice to meet you, thanks for the immediate hospitality. I saw the signs you put up around town."

Akiyama smirked, "Well that's one way to find out about my business, yes. Mind if I have your name?"

"Your signs say you'll give out loans, no need for a background check, bank statements, nothing?"

"And no interest, no collateral, and no upward limit." Akiyama made sure to add those details to his masked customer.

"Sounds too good to be true."

"Let me guess, no other moneylender in their right mind would send anything your way for any variety of reasons?"

"It's more like I want to keep this one more under the radar. Yet, I wouldn't say your statement is untrue. More so for the company I work for instead of myself specifically."

"Oh? You want a loan for your company?"

"The place I work for is struggling financially, but they can't know I took out a loan just to help them. My help would just be in vain if they found out."

"Well that doesn't sound suspicious. You don't need to make up any stories to get a loan out of me, I can just hand you the money just fine."

The masked man shook his head, "I'm not lying. I work as an...engineer of sorts. I plan to work on a 'secret' project that'll help the company."

"You seem confident in your ability to save your company with this so-called 'project' of yours. As noble as your goal sounds, I can't give you a loan."

"What, why not? I didn't ask for an amount yet."

"Well, you come in here masked, saying something about helping out your company without mentioning anything specific, and you expect to fix it yourself."

"You just want more details then?"

Akiyama shook his head, "I can excuse all of those, but the reason I'm not considering giving you a loan is for one reason and one reason only. You didn't give me your name when I asked."

The masked man sighed in relief, "That's it? You'll give me whatever I ask if I just give you a name?"

Akiyama shrugged and smirked, "Just something to keep for the records. Plus some extra things to get your loan in full."

The masked man shrugged his shoulders, "Just put my name down as Seijuro Kamiy-"

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation, they were soft yet firm knocks.

"Give me a moment. I didn't expect to get two customers today." Akiyama got up from the makeshift seating. He opened the door a few moments later to be greeted by a woman in regular business attire, sharp yet pretty features, and glasses. She had her brows furrowed very noticeably.

"Welcome to Sky Finance, Imperial Hotel branch. I have another customer at the moment, but-"

The woman gently placed a hand on his chest and moved him to the side as she entered the room. She looked directly at the masked man as he coward just a bit in fear, "Reiji-san. What are you doing here?" Her voice dripped just slightly with venom.

"W-whose Reiji? I'm Seijuro Kamiyoko, though you've mistaken me for him he does sound like a- a handsome fellow y-yes!"

The man shrieked a bit as the woman shot her hand directly towards his mask and sunglasses and forcefully took them off.

The man looked around and tried to look confused, "Uh-huh? Where am I? Kaoru-san? How'd we get here? I could've sworn I was-"

The man shut up as the woman seemingly stared directly into his soul, "I'm disappointed, but not surprised. We're heading back to the theater and discussing your-"

"W-wait a moment, Kaoru-san. I'm sure we can work something out...d-don't you know this guy here gives out loans?"

"Yes, I know how loan sharks work. First, they give you as much money as you can hope to have, then jack the interest rate as high as they want when they find you can't possibly pay them back. You're then forever stuck owing a greedy loan shark an impossible amount of money."

"H-hey, this guy-" the man stopped mid-sentence and extended an arm towards Akiyama to get his name.

"Akiyama." He decided to amuse the man and see where this went.

"Akiyama-san isn't like those other lenders. He doesn't do background checks, no bank statements, no upward limits. Akiyama-san even has it to where he doesn't charge interest or ask for collateral."

The woman shook her head, "If it sounds too good to be true, Reiji-san, then it is."

"I'm serious."

The woman adjusted her glasses just a bit and breathed heavily through her nostrils, "Even if that's true, you should go through me first before you decide to take any amount of loans from anyone. I overheard you earlier, anything related to the theater, personal or not, has to go through me."

The man shook his head, "Well sorry, I don't trust the theater to have enough funds to even invest in what I'm doing to help save it."

"I heard about your project from Claris-san. While yes, we don't have the funds to assist in your project, I would've helped you the best I can."

"Thank you for confirming what I expected. Now Kaoru-san. I'm going to ask for a loan. I'm willing to put myself in debt to save the theater, whether you like it or not."

"You're not going to let this up are you? Fine, but I'm going to monitor your transaction. I won't be lenient on you next time you try to pull a stunt like this."

"Thank you so much, Kaoru-san!" The man clapped his hands together and bowed, he then focused his attention back to Akiyama, "Shall we continue where we left off?"

Akiyama sighed as the two finished arguing, "Sure, sure take a seat. Both of you."

The three sat down on the makeshift seating. Akiyama obviously sitting across from them, "We'll start this from the beginning. I'm Akiyama, may I have your names?"

The woman sat straight and introduced herself, "Kaoru. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Akiyama-san."

The man smirked, "Reiji."

"Okay Reiji-san, Kaoru-san. It's a pleasure to meet you both. I give away loans, no upward limit, no interest, no collateral. Just pay me back a set amount every month or so and we'll have no trouble."

"That sounds too good to be true." Kaoru immediately noted.

"Hey, I gotta differentiate from other money lenders somehow. Plus I want to help out people when they have no other places to turn to."

Reiji placed a fist under his own chin, "So, you'll give me a loan, no questions asked?"

Akiyama chuckled, "Well I might ask a couple of questions, whether or not you answer them is up to you. It all comes down to succeeding in the tests I give you?"

"Tests?"

"Well due to having no collateral, I need to know if you're worth giving money to. These tests vary depending on the amount of money you ask for."

"Got it."

Akiyama clapped his hands together, "Do you mind if I ask you what you're trying to do?"

Reiji's eyes lit up a bit, 'Well I'm trying to build a-"

"We'll keep it a trade secret for now." Kaoru interrupted the man from even finishing what he had to say.

Akiyama chuckled, "Alright, if the fine lady here says so. I take it you handle the accounting?"

Kaoru nodded.

"Just making sure. Reiji-san, how much do you need?"

Reiji put a hand to his head and sheepishly scratched it, "Well, I'm guessing at minimum...30,000 yen."

A brief moment of silence filled the room as Reiji started to sweat a bit. The sharp glare from Kaoru didn't help as the silence seemingly lasted for more than a couple of seconds.

"That's it? Just 30,000?" Akiyama voiced. It's been a long time since he's had a (relatively) simple amount of money to loan out.

"You sound a bit..unimpressed?"

"I can easily get you 30,000 no problem. Now I've got two tests for you to do, we'll start with the first one. Are you ready?"

"Yeah!"

Akiyama clicked his tongue, "Been a while since I've done this, so give me a moment." Akiyama got up from his seat and shook his leg a bit. He snapped his fingers to try and get his brain to think of something he can reasonably have Reiji do, "You said you're an engineer right?"

Reiji nodded, "Of sorts."

Akiyama nodded and smirked. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, "Take this 10,000 yen and buy any number of items able to print business cards."

Reiji and Kaoru had their eyes widened at the prospect. Reiji was the first to voice his curiosity, "What?"

"Take this 10,000 yen and buy items able to print business cards. I don't care how you do it."

"What makes you so sure I won't spend it on my project?"

Akiyama smirked, "Well then, I'll just have to kick your ass."

"No offense, old man, but I'd like to see you try." Reiji shrugged his shoulders. Akiyama did indeed look a bit on the lean side.

"Oh, so you want a firsthand demonstration?"

Kaoru coughed into her hand, "Reiji-san, please."

Reiji chuckled, "It's just a joke, so just buy some things that can print out business cards?"

Akiyama handed off the cash to Reiji, "Yup, don't get robbed holding a stack of cash would gather a lot of folks attention. You won't get a second chance if you do."

"Got it! I know just the place!" Reiji ran out of the cramped room, almost hitting the door dead on in the process leaving Kaoru and Akiyama alone in the room.

Kaoru shook her head and crossed her arms with a sigh as Reiji left the immediate premises.

"I take it he's a handful at work?"

"A bit."

Akiyama took immediate note of her keeping herself closed off in front of him, "I get it, I get it, don't want to have small talk. Probably to prevent yourself from spouting off company secrets I take it? Don't worry, from one accountant to another I won't try anything dastardly."

The silence that followed was all Akiyama needed for confirmation. He put a hand on his neck and stretched his neck a bit to soothe some cramps, "He's probably going to take a while. How about we take a walk around the block, Kaoru-san?"

….

The walk out of the Imperial Hotel was filled with silence and for a couple of minutes the walk around the block was silent as well. Akiyama chuckled and decided to try and break the ice.

"I'm rather new to town, but I haven't gotten enough time to fully explore the place. Forgive me, if I don't know what goes on completely around here."

Kaoru sighed, "It's fine, I'm just still upset that our engineer didn't even bother to go through me. I have nothing against you...sort of."

"I take it you heard the stories of other loan sharks?"

Kaoru nodded.

"Well they're not exaggerating about them in those stories. They'll give you a loan they know you can't pay off and extort you exponentially. You gotta be careful around those types of people."

"And what about you?"

"No interest, no collateral. Sky Finance was found on the basis of helping people who can only solve their problems with money."

Kaoru shook her head, "That's what I don't understand. If you have no interest, then how do you keep your business afloat? What about the ones who can't pay you anything back?"

Akiyama smiled, "Well that's why I give people tests. To see if they are worthy of receiving money from me. It might not work 100% of the time, but it's been working out so far. For your first question, usually people are able to pay back the amount I lent them, so not much is lost. Sky Finance isn't about making profits, you know?"

Kaoru stopped in her tracks, "What?"

Akiyama also stopped and rested his arms behind his head, "I know how money makes the world go round, don't get me wrong, but I don't care much about losing profits. Folks can ask for hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, and I will supply them with the money one way or another. Money has lost its value to me, because I know how to earn it back."

Kaoru looked down, "It must be nice not worrying about money."

Akiyama chuckled, "I didn't say I don't worry about money. I'm just lenient on what I gain or lose. Sky Finance is a single-man runned business, but I would lose hairs if it expanded beyond just me. I mean I can hire a couple of folk, but I wouldn't want to hire hundreds upon hundreds. Sky Finance would lose its identity that way. I take it that being an accountant is a bit hard when your company is in the red, right?"

Kaoru nodded and continued to walk forward, Akiyama also moved forward.

"I'm an accountant at the Imperial Theater. We've been struggling financially for quite a while and we've been trying to fix that, but we end up getting deeper and deeper in the red. I can't specify, due to it being company privacy and all that."

"Oh yeah, that's the place where Kanzaki Sumire is in charge of right?" Akiyama figured this was a chance to naturally ask about this prominent Sumire figure.

Kaoru's eyes lit up a bit, "That's one way to look at it."

"So, what's her deal?"

"Huh?"

"I don't see what's the big deal with her."

Akiyama held back a smirk as Kaoru exhaled through her nose and pushed her glasses up, "I'm sure quite a few people would have a fit if they discovered your disposition towards her."

"I take it you would be one of those people if you didn't work for her." He noticed her disposition changed when the conversation shifted to Sumire.

Kaoru ignored his jab, "Sumire-san _is_ the top star of the Imperial Theater. She's been with the theater since the 1920's and still supports the Imperial Combat Revue to the best of her ability. Many like me have looked and still look up to her."

Akiyama didn't hide his surprise, "Imperial Combat Revue?"

Kaoru held her mouth agape, but she quickly closed it and pushed her glasses up, "I guess not many people would think there is an Imperial Combat Revue since Shanghai's Combat Revue protects the city more than we do."

Akiyama noted that she spoke in a way that seemed to indicate what she was saying was common knowledge, "I see. Know any places where I could find more info on the Combat Revues?"

Kaoru nodded, "Aside from the library or the bookstore, I would say the Imperial Theater would be the ideal place to learn about the Imperial Combat Revue, new and old members alike."

"I take it there's merch or brochures?"

"There's also bromides you can buy that contain information about the members and snippets about why the photos were taken."

Akiyama shrugged, "Hmph. Guess I have a reason to check out the Imperial Theater then."

Kaoru smiled a bit, "It would help if you also bought tickets to our shows. Our new show is going to feature Anastasia Palma as the lead role. The famous actress from Greece."

Akiyama scratched his head a bit, "Not usually my thing, but since you have a cute smile I'll do it for you."

Akiyama wasn't sure if she blushed or not, but her small moment of silence seemed to indicate she was a bit embarrassed, "Strange. I'm usually not good at advertising the theater. Rather, I don't usually have time to advertise."

"Yeah, yeah, accounting and all that, right? Sometimes all it takes is a cute girl smiling at people to get them to do things."

"You jest too much, Akiyama-san."

Akiyama checked his watch, "We should head back. Reiji-san should be back any minute now."

Kaoru nodded, "If you ever decide to stop by the Imperial Theater, just get the girl at the front desk to call for me. I'll give you a tour if you like."

Akiyama chuckled, "Getting the accountant to personally give me a tour? I gotta be the luckiest guy in town."

The two continued to chat and walk back to the hotel, but about midway there Kaoru seemed to bump into a man in a suit as he walked out of an alleyway.

"Sorry."

The man turned around and scowled, "Yeah, yeah! We're looking for a place called Sky Finance, so scram if you don't have any info on the place."

Kaoru was surprised as the man shoved her shoulder, but her feet stayed in place. She gave a slight glance towards Akiyama as she assessed the situation on her own, "Sorry, I don't know what that is."

"Then get the hell out of here, you too old man!"

Akiyama shook his head, "Sheesh, that's not a way to talk to a lady."

"The fuck you say?"

"If you're looking for Sky Finance, then it's nice to meet you. I'm Akiyama Shun, you looking for a loan?"

"So, you're Akiyama?"

"I don't see anyone else named Akiyama here?"

"Makes this much easier, come here boys! I found him!"

Kaoru shook her head in disbelief and whispered to Akiyama, "What are you doing? Do you not realize they're also loan sharks?"

Akiyama shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, any and all folk looking for Sky Finance is my business. You might want to stand back before they surround us."

Kaoru shook her head, "All the talking in the world isn't going to get you out of this one."

"I know, things are going to get rough for a moment."

The two were quickly surrounded by six men in suits.

"Not being real original with this 'surrounding a person' plan guys, but what can I do for you today?"

"Heard you're a new business that just opened up."

Akiyama rolled his eyes, "Let me guess, you and your boys are here to extort me or kick me out of town so you can keep your stupid monopoly on loans, right?"

The men looked at each other in confusion, "What? No. Competition is healthy for growing businesses like yours and ours. It keeps customers' options open and shows us what customers like in a business so we can work around it."

Akiyama and Kaoru exchanged a look of confusion. Akiyama spoke up again, "Then what are you guys surrounding us for?"

"Change your company's name."

"Excuse me?"

"Your company's name is too close to our name, Financing The Sky. People would get too confused about the names, not to mention our boss' name is also Akiyama."

"So, you're pulling this act...just to get me to change the name of Sky Finance?" Akiyama sighed in aggravation and placed his feet into a stance, "Let's just skip to the good part." He wasn't very enthusiastic about this.

One of the men in front of him pulled out a bat while the rest decided to raise their fists up.

**Financing the Sky Goons**

True to Akiyama's combat style he ran up to the man with the bat quickly and kicked them in the knee. He then quickly stepped back and delivered a swift roundhouse kick to two folk trying to attack him from the side.

The man with the bat recovered from the slight shock of Akiyama's speed and knee kick and charged at Akiyama with the bat held high. Akiyama was then held in place by a man behind him as the man with the bat swung the bat downward towards his head. Akiyama's response was to simply go limp and stop resisting the arm hold. It worked as the man didn't expect the sudden dip of Akiyama's body and his body bent down with Akiyama's.

The bat hit the man's head and he immediately went limp from the impact. Akiyama got stuck under the man's unconscious body for a second, but he quickly pushed him off of him and rolled back up. Five left to go of course.

Akiyama's foot grinded against the ground for a moment and he swung his arm against the empty air, "That all you got?"

Akiyama got the response he wanted as two of the men decided to charge him at the same time, he could hear the footsteps of another one right behind him. He quickly turned around and ran towards the man that was previously behind him as the other two followed suit. At the best possible moment he kicked the man in the crotched and used both of his feet to briefly jump on the man's back and quickly flip around to bring two kicks down on the ones that tried to chase him. Two out of three of them were lucky enough to get knocked out quickly, but the one that tried to get up was quick to receive a quick stomp on his face. Akiyama let his foot off the man after he stopped spasming. Two more to go.

The man with the bat tried to come back for more, but without anyone behind Akiyama this one was going to be easy. Akiyama opted to kick the bat wielder in the crotch to ensure that he would stumble. A high pitched cry erupted from the man and Akiyama didn't give him a moment to rest. He kicked the bat out of his hands and sent it flying high above them. He then unleashed a flurry of kicks into the man and jumped up to catch the falling bat. Akiyama then used the rest of his momentum to bash the back of the man's head. The final nail being the man's face roughly crashing into the pavement. Akiyama winced at the fact that the bat quickly wore out and he let it drop to the ground.

He looked to the side to see the last goon back away with a look of absolute fear on his face. He tripped as soon as Akiyama turned his head his way and he tried to back away on the ground, "P-please don't hurt me!"

He unfortunately bumped right into Kaoru's knees and he quickly flipped to his stomach and bowed as deeply as he could, "I'm so sorry! We give up, you can keep your name, we'll change ours."

Akiyama shook his head, "No reason we should be fighting over a stupid name anyway. Tell your boss that strong arming won't work. I'm not some defenseless idiot because I just opened up."

"Yes, sir! I'll do it right away, sir!"

Akiyama stopped him from running away and pointed towards the man's buddies, "Get your friends while you're at it, don't want to leave them in the streets."

"Y-yes. Come on get up you idiots, before he hits me."

Akiyama and Kaoru moved on and let the man gather his fellows. They walked for a bit before speaking to one another.

"What was that?"

"Just defending myself. Sorry to drag you into that, I was gonna deal with them sooner or later. Self proclaimed rivals to business are quick to try and enact force."

Kaoru shook her head, "That's normal to you?"

"Er.. yeah, but I will admit I was just showing off right there. Never seen a street fight before?"

"I've heard of them happening, but I didn't expect a front row seat to one."

"Sorry, again. I guess I just don't like jackasses like that who try too hard to intimidate people."

"I could've defended myself if the situation called for it. You took them out quickly though."

"It's no fun wasting time fighting. We're here."

The two entered the Imperial Hotel and Akiyama was surprised to see that there seemed to be a lot of hustle and bustle. Kaoru looked towards the decorations written in English _WELCOME LONDON REVUE_

"London?" Akiyama could easily read the signs.

"It seems they're preparing early for the London Combat Revue."

Akiyama only watched for a couple of more seconds as the hotel staff ran around trying to make the place look as nice as possible, he saw the owner as they took a quick glance at him and quickly tried to pretend they didn't look. They headed towards Akiyama's room afterwards.

"Wonder how much longer you were gonna take, you followed him Kaoru-san?" Reiji was obviously bored as he sat in Sky Finance alone.

"You get what I requested, Reiji-san?"

Akiyama and Kaoru once again sat back on the procured seating.

"Yup, here you go."

Reiji presented a small mechanical object, too small to be a business card printer in fact. Kaoru waited patiently and Akiyama blinked, "What's this?"

"It's a small printer I made myself using the money you gave me. Watch."

The man then pulled out a bromide...of himself… and presented it in front of the small device. A laser appeared in front of the machine and slowly scanned the picture. Then it quickly printed a smaller-business card shaped picture, "With this you can easily scan whatever you want to reproduce in business card shape. So, yeah just scan a paper and it easily becomes a business card. "

Akiyama's surprise was obviously telegraphed to Reiji, who smirked in the most proud way possible, "Well damn, thanks. I didn't expect this at all."

"Don't underestimate me! I even have 1,000 yen leftover."

Reiji tried to hand the money back, but Akiyama shook his head, "Keep it for yourself, I'm impressed! It won't count towards your loan, so don't worry."

"Thanks!"

Kaoru coughed into her hands, "I have to admit I've been here longer than I should be. Can we quickly wrap this up, so I can get back to work."

Reiji nervously chuckled, "Well you are the one who followed me…" He immediately regretted his words as Kaoru gave him a blank stare, "Okay! What's my second test?"

Akiyama put a finger up as he decided to enter the bathroom. He quickly came out of the bathroom holding a small container and he handed it to Reiji.

Reiji opened it to see three stacks of cash, plus an extra stack smaller than the other three. He looked towards Akiyama with a starry eyed look, "You're giving me this now?"

"Yes, but your second test is what's involved with your loan. I gave you an extra 5,000 just in case. Once you're done with your project, I want your word, mind you, you'll take Kaoru-san on a nice night out."

Kaoru and Reiji looked at Akiyama, "What? You mean like a date?"

"Date, hang out, whatever you want to call it."

"You don't have to do anything for me, Akiyama-san."

Akiyama shook his head, "I know accountants usually are stressed out from all the unappreciated work they do, trust me I used to work for a bank. Now Reiji-san. If you take Kaoru-san on a nice night out, then you'll only need to pay back 15,000 yen, if I hear it was amazing, then it'll just be 10,000 yen back."

"W-whoa, really? You're cutting a lot of slack off the return."

"Don't try to half ass it either."

"Don't I get a say in this?"

Akiyama chuckled, "You get to decide how much Reiji-san will pay me back."

Kaoru hummed to neither agree nor disagree with him.

"Reiji-san repeat after me."

"I."

"I."

"Will take."

"Will take."

"Kaoru-chan on a nice night out."

"Kaoru-chan on a nice night out….wait a second!'

Akiyama laughed, "I guess you're not opposed to it after all if you called her chan that easily. You two go back to whatever you needed to do. I better hear good results, Reiji-san."

Reiji got up and motioned for Kaoru to follow, but she quickly opted to take the doubt there was going to be a lot of scolding when they got back. Before they left however, Kaoru asked a burning question.

"Why is your business inside the Imperial Hotel?"

"The owner owes me a favor or two." Also known as blackmail, "Also haven't found a suitable location that fits what I'm looking for in an office, so don't expect Sky Finance to stay in the Imperial Hotel forever."

Kaoru didn't seem convinced by his answer, but she nodded anyway and headed out with Reiji in tow.

Akiyama was about to take a 'successful business transaction nap' and quickly realized something a little bit too late, "I should've asked if they knew Haruka, oh well."

Sleep was about to be achieved, "Shit, better check on Haruto."

….

**Well I hope I got those two right. Maybe a bit out of character for Kaoru, but usually don't see her participate in silliness in the game. She's the more 'straight-(wo)man type.' Don't know why, but this chapter seemed to not want to work with me, but we are all good now.  
**

**Hope everyone has a wonderful day, see you next time.**


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